Freelance Writing

I thought I would spend this week's blog talking about freelance writing. In my case, freelance writing was just thrown in my lap. I am not a trained writer. I mean, I took college writing, but never focused on it. You can probably tell in my blogs that I am not, by any stretch of the imagination, an author. But I like to write, and always secretly hoped to be able to create something that someone other than my mother would be happy to read.

How did I get involved in freelance writing? I was a teacher who had young children, and wanted to be at home during their early years. I thought I would substitute a couple times a month and go back to teaching after my kids were in school. However, I had a friend who was working as a freelance writer, and had emailed me an upcoming math writing position. I submitted my resume and was contacted by the company to do a "trial problem". Long story short, I was offered a "freelance" position. I had no idea what that really meant, but I took it, and wrote online math curriculum for my first project. After the math project, I found an online education company looking for writers. During that time I wrote math, social studies, and English curriculum. I have also done many correlations for different companies.

So what is freelance writing and how can you get involved? This is a difficult question to answer. Freelance writing is self-employed writing. You write from home whenever you can, on whatever subject the company needs you to write about. I was lucky to have someone on the inside. They were able to send me job opportunities and reputable website information. I could call them with questions and be confident that they would have the answers I would need. If you don't know someone who already does freelance writing, I would recommend using a search site, like google, and search freelance writing. I always search for "education freelance writer" or "curriculum freelance writer". Some of the larger publishing companies do hire freelance writers to work on their projects. I am more likely to apply for a job if it is from a company I have heard of. I do not apply for jobs if the company is unknown, or if during my research I find questionable information about a certain hiring company. I also don't send resumes out with tons of personal information. I send the basics, some information about recent jobs, and an email/phone number to reach me at. I must verbally converse with someone before I send out references or more in-depth information. Phishing scams are out there, and you need to be very watchful to ensure that you don't fall victim to people trying to gain a new online identity!

I hope this information helps you a bit. If you need specific information or want to ask me more questions, please feel free to comment on this blog. Have a great week!