Life as a writer (or a wanna-be professional writer) can be tough. Sometimes I feel like writing well is one of the most undervalued skills. Why? Everyone wants you to write for free!!!
What I don’t want my professional writing life to look like!
Despite this, I haven’t given up hope, yet. Ever since working in the Communication and Marketing Office at Scripps, I knew that writing was something I could do professionally, and not just in my personal journal. I started out writing articles and press releases for the office, and even doing some event planning. I had a fun time putting my writing skills to use. This year, I am also helping to write articles for the Scripps magazine and I further chose to work as a video production specialist, in order to broaden my skillset. Over the past two years, I have learned practical skills from my on-campus job that I hope to be able to use while interning this summer, as well as for future jobs.
However, next year I am going to be abroad. As this dawns on me more and more, I realize how much I will miss working for the Communication and Marketing Office. I know I want to continue to execute the challenging and creative work that I have been able to do while working at here at Scripps. So what’s my plan?
I’m not exactly sure. I do know that I want to get into freelance writing. But this isn’t as easy as it sounds, especially as it’s paid freelance writing that I’m after. This past week, I’ve started my search for a job, but many websites that promise to provide job postings require some sort of payment on my part—always a red flag for me. After many hours of frustration (and wanting to yell at the Internet), I happened to talk to a classmate in one of my English classes. We were talking about jobs, and she mentioned she had gotten a freelance writing position out of pure luck.
How?
She was discovered off of her personal website. The employers liked what they saw on her site, and offered her the job. Pretty cool, right? So, instead of purely dedicating myself to finding a needle in the haystack of the Internet, I’ve decided to also let the Internet find me. In the next weeks, I hope I can start marketing myself online through a personal site as well, and maybe put out some other social media feelers as well. After all, you never know how you might make a connection.
Do you have experience in freelance writing or virtual internships? Feel free to share if you have had similar struggles or if you have additional tips.