Imposter? Freelance editing and proofreading…
The above photo shows what I’m feeling at the moment. An uphill struggle, that famed cliché is very true. No matter how patient one might be, no matter how many setbacks one gets and no matter how many non-responses you get, determination is extremely important to get that important freelance career going.
I often wonder how long it took experienced professionals to get what they would classify as their ‘first’ freelancing job. Was it a month? Two months? Less? More? On one post that I’m following in a group on FB (Freelance Heroes. If you don’t know it, check it out) about imposter syndrome. The post asked whether any freelancers in the group believed they suffered from this. I, as a newbie, felt that I do, but it was encouraging to see that other, more experienced freelancers also felt the same. However, there were some really encouraging posts about self-belief, and I suppose from that comes self-worth. It’s really important to have that belief, especially as a newbie, but also as an experienced professional in the freelancing world. Sometimes, we need to look at ourselves and believe that we can do it.
Recently, I’ve been getting some good encouragement from my continuing training course with the College of Media and Publishing. This was a course I started a year and a half ago, but with my annus horribilis in 2017, I’ve restarted and I’m finding it easier since I did some other training courses. Grade A in the last two assignments is something I’m very proud of. Hopefully, 2018 will turn out to be an annus mirabilis.
Through Louise Harnby’s group on FB, I’ve found a wonderful blog and website that also does courses (of which I’m looking to join. Especially the developmental editing). The name of this is Liminal Pages, and seems full of advice and fantastic learning opportunities. The one blog post that sticks out for me is the goals for 2018, and I think that this is something which can prove to be extremely useful, especially if one is starting, or continuing, a freelance journey. I will have a think about my goals for 2018, and then in 2019, I can look back, review and revise for the following year.
#freelance #LiminalPages #LouiseHarnby #proofreading #editing #CollegeofMediaandPublishing