You’re A Creative, Don’t Forget It
Financial difficulties may force freelancers into full time non-creative work, but the creative spirit should not be compromised
Quite often it can feel like you are shouting into an abyss as a freelancer, and I hold no one in contempt who throws in the towel for a more secure but less fulfilling role; when you put hours into crafting work and receive no appreciation, celebration or renumeration, it is easy to abandon the endeavour altogether as hopeless. There is no date on success, nor any guarantee that it will come. Nonetheless, to those who are not managing to subsist from freelance writing, which is many I imagine, do not give up.
Naturally there is ego in writing and any other creative discipline, but never let it be the sole driver for creative output and give up in the absence of recognition. Seek feedback, and use this to develop your craft and your voice. Furthermore, have some belief in your own creative vision and continue to put yourself out there. Secondly, if you can’t make writing a living for the time being, then make it a leisure. That word does not do it justice- make it a lifeline. When I have been unhappiest I have written most and when my soul is heavy the page is full. Write because you need to write, and because it is intrinsically enjoyable. Continuing, writers document, explore and comment, all of which empower you, especially if you feel powerless in a role that is not reflective of your passions. By all means take up a full time, non-creative paying job to stay afloat, but don’t see it as an end to writing, see it as a way to eat whilst you feed your soul with the arts.
Continuing, the job market is uncertain right now, and seeking security through it from freelancing can feel like jumping from a sinking ship into one with a hole in it. Despite this, many have been forced to do so; I don’t have a panacea for struggling creatives, either on how to succeed through the arts or outside of them, I simply wish to rally against “realism” which so often sounds the death knell for creative ambition. If you have to take a stopgap role to get by, then don’t stop calling yourself a creative or believe this is the “proper job” that always awaited once careless youth had passed. Instead, keep feeding the desire to create, and don’t allow that side to be deadened or crushed by current necessity. I work in admin right now, but by no means does that define me; I live to write, even if I can’t write to live.
In short, it’s easy to become disenchanted with freelancing after months or years of hand to mouth existence and silence. Some of this dismay comes from a utilitarian motivation for writing; you dismay silence because you write for acclaim, in which case, you should try to write for yourself also, within reason. Secondly, no one can write a masterpiece with no shelter or food, so of course getting paid is a necessity. On this point, I hope to warn against the danger of abandoning the arts altogether when financial struggles force you into non-creative positions. See these roles as a means to an end; positions which enable you to have the material comforts necessary to keep writing, filming or painting. The takeaway? You’re a creative, don’t forget it.
