Top 5 Tips for Establishing & Achieving Your Writing Goals

There are many different reasons for becoming a freelance writer: Some people turn to it as a career, others as a hobby. Some see it as a primary source of income, others as a supplementary source. The path to take as a freelance writer depends on what you want to accomplish. Establish your writing goals, and learn how to achieve them.

1. Primary Income

Whether it’s because you love to write; you need a job with flexible hours; or you want to be your own boss, you’re looking to support yourself and/or your family through freelance writing. In this case, seek out the writing jobs that pay the most amount of money for the least amount of time & effort – whether that proves to be tech writing for computer companies, ghostwriting for private clients, or copywriting for advertising corporations. Strive to work multiple times for a few clients — rather than a few times for multiple clients. Strong relationships encourage a regular flow of work.

2. Supplementary Income

Payment is important, but not pivotal to your work as a freelance writer. So be sure to balance out your need for income with your thirst for any of the following…

3. Political Power

You seek a platform for your ideas and strive to effect social change. Publish articles in newspapers and magazines — working your way up from the small, independent periodicals (where your message will reach thousands), to the large, corporate ones (where your message will reach millions). To get your foot in the door, start off targeting periodicals that will be receptive to your ideas — i.e., preach to the choir. Once you’ve established yourself as a writer on your topic of choice, you’ll have more success branching out to communities that really need to hear your message.

4. Artistic Pleasure

Whether through poetry or prose, fiction or non-fiction, you write for self-expression. For creative writing, direct your work to literary magazines and journals. For some combination of creative writing and reporting, direct your work to the non-fiction periodicals linked above (see #1). Keep in mind that you’ll have more room for creative expression when writing lifestyle-oriented features than when doing straight-up news reporting.

5. Education & Enrichment

You write as a means of learning about and experiencing the world: You want to be up front & center where all the action is – working with the politicians, scientists, and artists shaping our society today. Once you’ve chosen your focus topics, there are numerous options available to you — such as writing grant proposals for cutting-edge nonprofits, copywriting for leading biotech companies, or writing journalistic articles on subjects that interest you.