Freelance Writing: Stay Creative And Rebuild Your Business

Are you facing the rebuilding of your freelance writing business? Many of the freelance writers with whom I’ve chatted over the past few weeks are struggling with cancelled gigs and clients who’ve shuttered their businesses.

Although it seems Pollyanna-ish to say: “you’ll soon be back, bigger and better than ever,” a positive attitude is vital.

Believe in yourself. Pray: prayer has many benefits. Stay positive and strong.

Stress makes you ill:

… chronic stress has a significant effect on the immune system that ultimately manifest an illness. It raises catecholamine and suppressor T cells levels, which suppress the immune system. This suppression, in turn raises the risk of viral infection…

Spend time writing each day, even if it’s only ten minutes.

Your freelance writing focus: what did you write today?

Writing is therapeutic, so make sure that you write, whether or not someone is paying you for your writing immediately.

This might be the time to:

• Start an income-generating blog;
• Write and self-publish your first novel;
• Build an online group for writers in your area or city;
• Develop a new specialty;
• Study something new, so once things open up, you’ve got a new string to your bow.

Creativity builds and maintains your freelance writing career, so it’s time to boost your creativity as well. You need all the inspiration and enthusiasm you can generate.

Let’s look at how you can do that.

1. Creativity and imagination: daydream

To build your creativity, you need to build your imagination.

An imaginative mind state is focused. But it’s also loose — free wheeling, and dream-like.

Repetitive tasks which don’t require much thinking help to trigger creativity. Many writers get up early and write fiction before they write anything else. When you first wake up, you’re very close to your subconscious mind. You can concentrate, but also allow yourself to play.

2. Your subconscious mind (creativity) communicates with images

Images are powerful. Great art arouses emotions. You can use images to trigger your imaginative mind state.

Your creative self will “speak” to you in images too. For example, this morning I woke up with an image of concentric circles in my mind.

I drew the circles on an index card before I could forget. Dream and daydream images tend to dissipate like smoke if you don’t anchor them in some way.

Later today, I’ll do a little freewriting to mine the image for ideas.

3. Creativity whispers, it doesn’t shout: anchor creativity in reality

“I’m not creative…” Many writers have said this to me over the years. It’s not true. A lack of creativity is never a problem. You think you lack creativity because you’re not paying attention.

Your creativity won’t yell at you. Nor will it smack you with a magic wand.

Remember my concentric circles? They just appeared in my mind for an instant. If I hadn’t been paying attention—if I believed that I lacked creativity—I wouldn’t have noticed them at all.

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