Yeah, me too, Malcolm. I love working this way. (I think you can tell.) I also like your term “permies” Great!

I got a chance of a freelance contract where I had to provide my own training, and I took it even though I was scared stiff.

I’ve never been happier. I’ve had far better job security since. Freelancers know the risks we face. Permies think they are secure, so when the sack comes it is devastating.

And I still get this great kick when I walk away from a successful contract.

Fortunately, I had already been moonlighting as a freelanc tech writer for several years, so not only knew how to do it, but also had a solid clientele and some money in the bank. I went into it with a plan and a timetable for determining whether or not the experiment was a success or I needed to find another day job.

Did that make stepping off into the void any less terrifying than when Indiana Jones took that step off the cliff to find the Holy Grail? Not a bit. But like Jones, I, too, was able to find the hidden path across the chasm and build a successful consulting business.

Now to apply the same lessons (plus those learned at the K&D workshops) to growing the fiction career!

Great series, Kris!

I’m glad this is helpful for you, Mark. I think the workshop will be as well. Folks, we’re doing one in June and one in September. You can find more information in an early post from me, or at Dean’s website, http://deanwesleysmith.com/. We do workshops only occasionally (until we get tired), mostly because no one is teaching business to writers, and that’s what makes or breaks the career. Just an FYI. Kris

My wife and I talked about it extensively and I’m going to start working at freelancing as a writer. I’ve not sold anything (yet), so it’ll be a longshot, I know. And I’ll be doing temp work and part-time jobs and the like to replace as much of my previous income as I can. But we intend to see this as an opportunity.

I’m already signed up for the September workshop. I am really pleased to hear that “Lots and lots of people make an excellent fulltime freelance living writing novels. Lots of them. And most of them are not bestsellers. That’s a myth. It’s possible.” I look forward to learning more about that.

Thanks, Joe. I’m glad you figured out how to make it work for you. 🙂 Kris

Great chapter. Saw link to it included in SF Signals site.

As to the post themselves it is had to navigate to the rest of the Freelancing posts on your site. This is because selecting the category ‘The Freelancer’s Survival Guide’ at the top of the post provides all of the series, headers and content. But since the post get so long I get lost.

So what I did was just get an RSS feeed, for easier navigation.

cheers,
Joe