So you want to have a successful writing career. It can be a tough decision to make. Some people start writing, stop, then come back to it because they suddenly realize how much they love it. Others skirt around it doing other things and leaving it as something they do part time. It's not so easy to make the decision to become a freelance writer. There are lots of reasons why you might be afraid to take the plunge. If you've been writing in your spare time and have never shown your writing to anyone, you might lack confidence. That's normal, especially for fiction and poetry writers.
Fear Of Being Unable To Write
Many people think that they can't write. They think that no-one would actually pay them because their writing is no good. Ironically, some of these people make the best writers. Writing skills can be learned, and willingness to learn will take you a long way. A good way to address this fear is to take a writing course - you'll soon find out whether your skills are up to the mark.
Income Fears
For others, the barrier is the fear of being broke. If you're making an essential contribution to your household income, then this is a very real fear. The answer to this is to sacrifice some of your spare time and start doing paid writing work on evenings and weekends. Many successful writers have started this way. There will come a time when you have so much work that you begin to think about freelancing full time. However, since freelance writing is seasonal, there's no guarantee that you will earn the same amount every month, so that stops some people from taking the plunge.
Moving Beyond The Fear
In the end, you will become a full time writer when the fear of not doing it outweighs your fears about being broke or being a poor writer. As you submit more and more work and win more and more gigs, you will build confidence and you will soon find out that you can write. More importantly, you will find out what your writing strengths are, and build on them so that you can attract the paying clients that you need. This is a sensible time to take the plunge into a freelance writing career.
This is the only way to find out if you have what it takes to build a successful writing career. Take a gamble on yourself. If you're right, you will soon have more work than you can handle and you won't be afraid to call yourself a writer.
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