When I meet new people and they ask me what I do, I usually simply say, “I’m a writer.” Their next question, naturally, is “How long have you been a writer?” to which I always snottily reply “My whole life.” Being a writer is kind of like being a hemophiliac. It’s a condition. Not a choice.
“Oh, do you mean how long have I been getting paid to write?” Then, they punch me, after which I say, “About five years.”
Before that, I managed small businesses—mostly in the yoga and wellness worlds—where I was always the go-to person when it came to content stuff. Cuz I have a near autistic knack for spelling and grammar, and I love words more than I love people. But there is a big difference between being able to string some words together and having the wherewithal to actually make a living running your own business. The latter takes a lot more than writing skills. It takes a superhuman amount of organization and self-discipline and a personality type that requires long stretches of uninterrupted, absolutely dead silent alone time and the ability to say “no,” a lot, to the twin sirens of brunch with underemployed friends and afternoon napping.
Every once in a while, someone who is thinking of trying their hand at freelance writing emails me to ask me for tips and advice. This just happened recently, and I started to go down the road of making checklists for her of all the marketing, networking, self-promotional, organizational and nit-picky things I did to get my business off the ground when I first decided to do it. But then I realized that she really wasn’t asking me for Virgo brain-drain. She was trying to figure out if she had the talent to make it work. So this is what I told her:
I think you are a great writer! The question is, are you willing to write with vigor and enthusiasm about things like real estate, insurance and pest control solutions? These are just some of the kinds of clients I worked for in my first few years. (And still would — please email me!) Can you be interested in anything? Are you willing to put in some hours for free to build a portfolio? Are you willing to work your ass off and work way harder than if you had an actual job-job? Are you willing to take vacation less and work on holidays more and tell your friends you can’t ever answer the phone before 6pm, even if they just broke up with their horrible DB of a boyfriend and they are very upset, because you have to concentrate? Are you willing to stay home all day with your cats and drink so much tea you are peeing straight earl grey? Are you willing to scream at your neighbor’s small children for playing loudly and with too much glee when you are trying to concentrate? Are you 
willing to become a total reclusive weirdo but then, when necessary, put some mascara on and go meet a potential client and smile and act like a totally normal person who has her shit together? Can you pull that off?
If all of the above, I say, go for it!
