Shifting from the full-time corporate world to one of freelance affords me the opportunity to refocus on my passion, writing. Having more time to write, as well as an incentive to continue developing my writing skills forced me to look at my own writing process and really discover I can produce my best work. After having gotten so much advice over the years about writing, the most important bit I can pass along is to practice. Ignore whatever else people tell you to do to be a good writer....

I think it started early on, before spelling words correctly was something I was concerned about. I caught the writing bug. We had this assignment in school where we had to write and illustrate a book. I wrote about my cat running away (we found her a few days later.) I still have the book because it had a profound effect on me. I’m still writing to this day.

Personal narratives are the best place to start

Being a writer requires so much practice, so before you sit down to write the next...

The answer to this honestly varies week-by-week. The hardest part about being a freelancer is ensuring work continues to flow in, so that you’re never really without anything to do. Sure, the volume of work will be different each week, so will the deadlines associated with each project. I just had less than a week to complete a 6,500 word project that I was working on until the very last minute, while another project I have for 2,200 words isn’t due for a month. Because of all these...

You may not think there’s any difference between simply working from home and having a freelance career, but having now done both, I can say there are fewer similarities than I expected.

Firstly, I want to dispel the belief that working out of the home, regardless of what you do, means you approach work in a super-casual way, like in your pajamas. (While some people might do this, I never have.) Working from home is a more casual situation, but one doesn’t necessarily check out from...

Before I took the leap to become a freelancer, I spent 15 years in the same industry, at the same company, working in various marketing roles in higher education publishing. I spent my career not only marketing educational textbooks and online resources, but working directly with college professors. I attended workshops and conferences that focused on issues influencing trends in higher education, eventually managing online communities comprised of a combination of all these areas. Without...