Freelancing frugalities, freedoms and frustrations

A few years ago, Allan Lynch, a Holland College Journalism School graduate from the early 1970s, was compelled to leave work and return to his home province of Nova Scotia from Ontario to help care for his ailing father. Until then he had been writing and editing for community newspapers for about 17 years.
While in Nova Scotia, he concluded that when he returned to the job market it would not be in newspaper writing or editing. He was bored with that kind of journalism.
“When he (Lynch’s father) died that freed me up to do some more freelance.”
He decided freelancing would give him the variety he craved.
“I can throw myself with a passion into something and then move on.”
As he did not have a family to support, he realized the lack of a salary wouldn’t be a factor in the decision.
“It suits my lifestyle,” Lynch said.
For most freelancers, freelancing provides mad money, above their regular earnings.
For Kevin Yarr, a Holland College graduate of 1985 and now webmaster at CBC in Charlottetown, freelancing gave him and his partner a small income as she pursued graduate studies at Guelph University. There was a recession, he said.
“Freelancing was what was out there.”
Yarr spent almost two years in Guelph freelancing, then moved to England and back to the Maritimes, where he freelanced until about 2006.
Lynch said to be a freelancer, a writer has to think about his life and priorities. Sometimes lifestyle changes need to be made to accommodate a lower, less predictable income.
“You’ve got to step things down. You learn that you don’t really need as much as you think.”
When Yarr started out, he and his partner had no children and were living off her graduate studies and his freelancing incomes.
“We were poor.”
And there are other considerations, Lynch said.
Like time management.
“You have to be organized.”
Yarr said organization was definitely a key issue. Most importantly, a freelancer has to be constantly on top of the six-month cycle of pitching, writing and cashing the paycheque.
“I came into it pretty early on that there was a business aspect to it.”
Lori Mayne, a Carleton journalism school graduate of 2001 and a full-time reporter and photographer at the Journal Pioneer in Summerside, picks up some freelance work every month or two, she said.
“I’m learning to set deadlines for myself.”
Elizabeth Patterson agreed. She’s a 1983 Kings College journalism honours graduate with experience at CBC TV, CTV and as an editor and reporter at the Cape Breton Post who freelances occasionally.
“It’s all about timing. You’re not going to get paid professionally if you don’t act professionally.”
She advises anyone wanting to succeed at freelancing not to procrastinate. After finishing an interview, writing should start immediately.
“Get it done when you get it done.”
Lynch stresses a writer also needs to know when and how to pitch a story idea to an editor.
“An editor can usually recognize a dilettante from far away.”
Mayne has never had to pitch a story idea as she freelances part-time and depends on her newspaper employment for income. In the beginning, Mayne was approached by editors who got her name either from a former university professor or someone has called the Journal Pioneer looking for a local writer.
“I enjoy it when I do it but I don’t pitch it.”
Patterson has been approached mainly on the merit of her work. In addition, she plays the flute and has produced two CDs which have seen great success. She doesn’t need to depend on her freelancing as her only source of income, but she has made some good money from it, she said.
“I’m not really good at pitching myself.”
Lynch said editors get hit with a lot of pitches.
“You’ve got to be good to stand out.”
Over the years, he has developed a schedule that works well for him. He does the bulk of his writing from about 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day, Monday to Friday.
“By about 3:30 to 4 p.m. I’m brain dead.”
Then he uses evenings and weekends to think about ideas, most of which he gets from newsstands, libraries and other writers’ profiles. Often he will get a new idea from his travels, which have been extensive. During travels he often meets editors but resists the temptation to pitch an idea to them while at leisure.
“Never, ever pitch an editor when you’re on a trip like that.”
He advises writers to use the opportunity to strike up a rapport and pitch the idea to the editor as soon as they return to the office. Lynch’s experience as an editor in small town newspapers isn’t hurting him in this respect.
When he gets an idea for a story, he thinks ‘Who would be interested in that?’
“It’s got to interest my readers and I’ve got to be able to pitch it to somebody.”
If the topic interests him, he uses that as a gauge to know it will interest his readers.
“I really know my readers.”
Lynch writes for the travel industry and for trade magazines. Three American and one Canadian.
“A lot of writers don’t consider trade magazines. There is steady work.”
He doesn’t write about technology, but said it is good to be prepared to write about anything.
Yarr is versatile too.
“I write about whales, beer and business financing.”
Patterson has also written on diverse subjects. Anything from how a canal system works to book reviews for the Halifax Herald, her latest labour of love.
“You write exactly what they tell you.”
Lynch said the idea of writing for blogs appeals to him as it seems lucrative. Most blogs probably generate between $5,000 and $6,000 per month.
However, Yarr thinks the Internet works against the freelancer.
“It’s made writing in general seem less expensive.”
Sometimes, Lynch feels disconnected from people as the bulk of his interviews are done over the phone.
Mayne agreed. When she is writing freelance articles in her apartment she feels disconnected from the community. Phone interviews from home have the same effect. She misses the activity of the newsroom and can’t see the day when she would freelance full-time, she said.
“It can be very lonely.”
Lynch has experienced success with editors who turn to him regularly for his professionalism and product.
“I’ve been really blessed with the editors I’ve worked with.”
To get a good start, you need to market yourself. It’s not unlike being a musician, but you are on your own, he said.
“You need to sell yourself. You always need to be pitching.”
As for ego, that fragile idea soon gets lost in the workload.
“It’s not about yourself.”