The Freelance Writer

Kristen King

With a flair for words and a can-do attitude, Kristen King made her freelance writing dreams come true. The Virginia resident is currently completing her Master’s degree in publishing and balances book editing with business copywriting—and that’s just to start. Her blog is a hotspot for aspiring freelance writers and she’s become an industry mentor for many aspiring writers. Oh, and she’s just 25.

I caught up with this inspiring freelance writer to find out how she does it all, and what’s next for her multi-faceted career endeavors.

KF: So, how did you get into your line of work?
KK: I wanted to be a writer from childhood, so when the opportunity arose after college to do some freelancing while looking for a “real job” I jumped for it and fell in love with the whole lifestyle. It was everything I wanted! I got a ton of advice from then About.com Guide to Freelance Writing Anne Wayman, who now runs www.aboutfreelancewriting.com, and the other writers I met there, and I devoured every freelance writing book I could find. Teaching myself how to run a business was really hard, especially since I’d had virtually no professional experience at the time that I started freelancing, but it was worth it. So I guess the short answer is, “I worked my butt off!”

KF: You managed to freelance on the side and work a full-time job on site. How did you deal with the balancing act? Were there any disadvantages to not being at home by the phone as far as business coming in and client accessibility to you?
KK: Freelancing almost full time while working a full-time office job was the hardest thing I’ve ever done. Honestly, I don’t recommend it. This is what my life was like then: I worked on the train on the way to work. Then I worked. Then I worked during lunch. Then I worked some more. Then I worked on the way home from work. And then I worked after work. Rinse. Repeat. It was exhausting and basically miserable, but it was what I needed to do for a while, and it was definitely a character-building experience if nothing else.

Being accessible to current and prospective clients during the day was really hard, but thanks to my professional website and the ability to check my e-mail periodically throughout the day, I managed to give the impression that freelancing was my only priority. If it weren’t for my site, though, I never would have pulled it off.

KF: Now that you completely freelance, what has been the biggest hardship for you?
KK: Maintaining a steady income flow when life’s going on around me. I moved earlier this year and you can totally tell from looking at my numbers. In my opinion, that’s a bad thing. In July, I got all the way back up to my goal income for the month, but there’s no way I’m going to meet my annual goal after how sucky March and April were! I need to work harder at time management and compartmentalizing, and next time I move, I’ll remember that just because I’m in the house doesn’t mean I have to be packing—I’m at work!

KF: And the biggest surprise?
KK: The biggest surprise has been how much better my life is now that I’m freelancing. I absolutely hated commuting and working on someone else’s schedule. I hated getting up when it was still dark and coming home when it was dark again and never having the time to do anything fun. I struggle now with the best way to divvy up my working hours, but that’s more of a fun challenge, and it’s so much better than having to squeeze into someone else’s idea of productive working hours! And I work in large dedicated office that I designed myself, with a view of the woods outside my house, instead of a tiny cubicle in a windowless room. I get sick less, my stress level is way lower, and I lost almost 20 pounds in the first three months of being home. I just feel better, and I’m so much happier. And the funny thing is that I really liked my old job, too! I think I’m just meant for this kind of life.

KF: What advice do you have for people making the shift into freelance life?
KK: Don’t wait. I did what I thought I had to do, but if I had it to do all over again, I would have just taken the plunge and gone for it. I think I would have gotten where I am a whole lot faster, which means more time spent enjoying this amazing career. If you don’t have all of the tools right away, educate yourself. Read, take classes, go to seminars, do whatever you need to do to feel like you can make it happen—and then just do it. No one is ever 100 percent prepared for anything that comes along, so if you keep putting it off and waiting for the perfect circumstances, you’ll spend your whole life waiting. The perfect time to do it is when you can’t imagine yourself doing anything else.

KF: What’s next in your career?
KK: I’m working on a how-to book for freelancers. It’s slow going since it’s taking the back burner to client work right now, but I’m hoping to have a completed draft before too much longer. I’m also trying to carve out time for more speaking engagements, which I really enjoy. In a nutshell, I’m trying to balance the things I really love to do with the things I really like doing and use to pay the bills—and that’s the freelance dream, right?

To keep track of Kristen’s writing and editing career, check out her blog at www.inkthinkerblog.com.

Kristen Fischer is a freelance writer living in New Jersey. Her first book, Creatively Self-Employed: How Writers and Artists Deal with Career Ups and Downs is available at www.creativelyselfemployed.com.