With last week dominated by interview scheduling conflicts and last minute panics, this week has been relatively tame in comparison. That’s sort of how it goes with freelance work though - you can be intensely busy one minute then scrambling for a good idea the next. Nothing is guaranteed unfortunately, and when those dry patches roll around (and they do), you can start to get a little itchy. Like you might never get another commission ever again. The scary part is, that could very well be true. Like I said: No guarantees.
However these slower moments do give you time to reflect on the bigger picture and do a little forward planning. Having written for various magazines over the past seven years or so - and watched more than most fold and disappear without trace - your thoughts inevitably turn to the long game at times like these. With print journalism in peril and a paycheque for an online piece rarer than a shiny Charizard, more and more I get the feeling that I should be trying to transition into something more substantial.
I’ve been aware of this for a while though - the really tricky thing is figuring out what to do about it. Transition periods are hard to navigate by their very nature and unless you have a plan, you can find yourself going round in circles pretty quickly which is frustrating, to say the least. Without a set destination, you won’t get anywhere. The question is: where exactly do I want to end up?
So that’s what has taken up most of my mental energy this week: focusing on a game plan for a transition. This comes complete with a load of additional questions though; like what is it that I actually want to do? How do I go about doing that? Do I have enough talent to even bother trying? They’re all difficult to answer but you can’t let them get in the way. I hate the feeling of wasting time, so with that in mind - I’d rather do first and worry about the rest later. If you don’t try you’ll never know, will you?
Stuck in you own transitional period? Let me know in the comments below!
However these slower moments do give you time to reflect on the bigger picture and do a little forward planning. Having written for various magazines over the past seven years or so - and watched more than most fold and disappear without trace - your thoughts inevitably turn to the long game at times like these. With print journalism in peril and a paycheque for an online piece rarer than a shiny Charizard, more and more I get the feeling that I should be trying to transition into something more substantial.
I’ve been aware of this for a while though - the really tricky thing is figuring out what to do about it. Transition periods are hard to navigate by their very nature and unless you have a plan, you can find yourself going round in circles pretty quickly which is frustrating, to say the least. Without a set destination, you won’t get anywhere. The question is: where exactly do I want to end up?
So that’s what has taken up most of my mental energy this week: focusing on a game plan for a transition. This comes complete with a load of additional questions though; like what is it that I actually want to do? How do I go about doing that? Do I have enough talent to even bother trying? They’re all difficult to answer but you can’t let them get in the way. I hate the feeling of wasting time, so with that in mind - I’d rather do first and worry about the rest later. If you don’t try you’ll never know, will you?
Stuck in you own transitional period? Let me know in the comments below!
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