Why I Decided to Become a Freelance Writer

In 2008, Britain hit the worst recession for a long time. I didn’t think much of it at first. I was doing a tech degree and had a stable job with the military. Sandhurst was the definite next step after I graduated in July 2009. That was until an undiagnosed broken wrist put a stop to that. Sandhurst told me that I would have to wait at least a year.

I started out taking part-time work at Specsavers where my boyfriend worked, while I found something more permanent. But there was nothing. It was depressing and my boyfriend suggested again that I look at writing. Surely there was a way to bring in money with that, even if it was just doing something during my days off to get my novel out there.

So, I took a long look online. And you know what, there was a way! There were lots of options to become a freelance writer. It wasn’t exactly what I wanted to do at the time—I didn’t think so anyway. But it would bring in the money and would be so much better than working at Specsavers part-time.

I could become my own boss, and could dictate when I work. Sure, there was all the self-employment paperwork to sort out and it would make buying a house difficult, but the recession had already cause problems for some of that. We’d have time to build up the income, the savings and the documents at a later date.

To be honest, at first this was more of a way to tide us over. However, over time it became a job that I loved.

Creating articles on various topics was just as enjoyable as my fiction writing. I loved researching into people from history—a passion that I had for so long and could never do anything with. Learning about new topics and finding ways to make more money online was fun. It even meant I could go back to university part-time and learn a subject that was a passion for so long.

In 2011, we found out that we would have a little one on the way. Being a freelance writer offered us more benefits. I didn’t have to find childcare. I could work from home and raise our daughter at the same time. It really did become the best decision I could ever make at the time.

I wouldn’t recommend that anyone does it the way that we did. We had no savings to fall back on should freelance writing not work out, and there was no backup job or plan. It was a split decision because working part-time at Specsavers just wasn’t an option or enjoyable anymore.  

If I could do it all over again, I’d keep working for a few months before even thinking about quitting. I’d build up some savings to fall back on should freelance writing not work out, and I’d build up my client base first.