Hiya writers,
Apologies for missing last week’s newsletter. The entire Khullar Relph household was sick (Covid, we think), but other than the persistent fatigue I’m feeling, we’re all better and back to work and school.
This September marked the 20th anniversary of my becoming a freelance journalist. I stepped back from journalism ten years ago after my son was born, to focus more on books and business. Coming back to it this year, I’ve noticed that while I’ve had to build up the good habits again (marketing consistently, walking away from unreasonable clients, getting started on assignments early, etc.), the bad ones remained solid. The late night rabbit holes of research, for instance, or the panic about having “only two” assignments even when I know more are on the way. (I now have six assignments due by the end of the month. Oy.)
I used to believe that feast and famine was a staple of the freelancer’s life, but I don’t anymore. I was careful not to repeat the mistakes I made as a rookie freelancer and have prioritized clients who give me work regularly over pitching higher-prestige markets that only have room for one-offs. I have four regular clients now, each of whom assigns me between two and eight articles a month. Once I hit six regular clients—enough that losing two simultaneously wouldn’t massively impact my finances, but not so many that I can’t manage the assignments—I’ll start pitching some of the dreamier publications and the long-form stories that I research for fun.
I’m incredibly grateful that I learned, very early on in my career, that this is a business. And that keeping this business solid and solvent would be the ticket to taking risks and telling the stories that really mattered to me.
I feel solid, solvent, and—for the first time in very long—satisfied. So now it’s time to have some fun. This week, I’m trying to convince my editors to send me to Scotland for a story. I’ll let you know how it goes.
A very happy Thanksgiving to those of you who celebrate.
Cheers,
Natasha