I’ve been putting pen to paper (or rather, typing on a laptop) out of coffeeshops and coworking spaces and the comfort of my own home for a total of nine years and counting, and this is the sixth year where I’ve been posting an annual write-up summing up my experiences (Here’s 2013, 2014,
2015, 2016 and 2017.) I also typically celebrate by bringing cupcakes to a coworking space, one for each year I’ve freelanced. One year we even had champagne. (Thanks, Ty!)
But this year is a little different. My freelance anniversary (freelance-versary?) coincides with the Saturday before the final day of my first semester as a grad student at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication. I did go to a coworking space last Tuesday to massively overhaul a final group project, which I’ll write about in a different post, but I did not bring cupcakes. I did, however, get extremely lost in a parking lot once I left. After 45 minutes of wandering, I finally got a security guard, who also got lost in the same parking garage…because the numbered parking spots did not go numerically. Eventually we did find my car, though.
The moral of this story is that I’m at a weird moment in my career where I don’t feel like I have wisdom a lot of wisdom to impart. I could tell you that I switched from Freshbooks to Wave for my invoicing software, and it’s saved me money and I like it so much better. I could reiterate some of the freelancing truths I’ve shared over the years, but many of these are summed up in a series of blog posts about the business of freelancing that I’ve been writing for the Reynolds Center (with two more to come). I could tell you that it’s a good idea to shake things up a bit, play with new mediums, and learn to use tools you may never use again. But there’s a lot of context missing in that statement, and it doesn’t apply across the board.
I’ll be wrapping up my year and linking to my top posts in about a month, and I plan to write a bit about what my first semester of grad school was like for people who are contemplating getting back in the classroom next fall. But for now, I’ll just thank you for sticking with me through the years. I never take it for granted that I even have a platform where people will read my inane ramblings words of wisdom thoughts on the state of things, and I will do my best to continue to provide any resources and information I think you will benefit from. ❤️