The 30-Second Commute

Striking a balance in freelance is a struggle

A comedic look at freelance writing
By Stephanie Dickison
Published: July 2, 2010
The freelance writer’s life is chaotic to say the least. One day we’re sobbing into the bottom of our pomegranate caprihanas about the lack of work. And the next, we’re scrambling to file a story by the end of the day, and hopping on one foot into skinny jeans for an event we’re covering and already running late for.

No matter how carefully we plan, how pretty and highlighted our planner, chaos ensues. (Sometimes it feels as though chaos follows us at every corner.)

The problem is our lead times—they’re all over the place. If you’re working for a paper, you’re working to hourly and daily deadlines, and with magazines, your lead time is more like a couple of weeks or a month. Then there’s online stuff that can come up whenever.

Add into that crazy mix editors who need the edits to their piece right now—or who have scrapped most of your column and need you to interview three more people and have the new version back by 5.

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