Practice Makes Perfect Sense

At some time in your writing career, you will find the overwhelming desire to coast. You might notice it as a greater reliance on formula writing, where you use the same types of openings, always make the third paragraph the nut graph, and go out on an ironic quote. Coasting might come up in pitching to familiar editors only, or in always pursuing a specific topic or story type. You might keep doing the same amount of work.

No matter how the coasting starts, the taste of sameness is always there. One story sounds like the next. Each day becomes a slogging through a business that might as well be working for someone else. Then you start thinking that maybe, just maybe, the problem is with freelancing and that a change in what you do would solve all your problems. There would be enough money, adequate insurance (at least at an affordable rate), interesting people to speak with, challenges, and the possibility of advancement. But there won't be, because the problem isn't with circumstances; it's with how you meet them.

Granted, some people are not cut out for the freelance life and never will be. They really would be much better off working for someone else, or possibly doing something completely different from writing. But for those who really are suited to freelancing, this sort of feeling is a sign that you've forgotten an important life lesson: practice makes perfect.

We all know that the more you do something, the better you get at it. But doing isn't the rote replication of action. By essentially writing the same story and undertaking the same assignments, you aren't doing. Instead, you're working on an intellectual assembly line and just becoming more efficient at fixing the nut onto the bolt. That's unfulfilling because it misses the human inner drive to achieve something more. When you perform by rote, you work without really being present; you cease to exist. Any wonder why that would leave you unhappy?

To find meaning and fulfillment, keep practicing amd challenge yourself so that you must be present to solve the problems that will arise. Of course some of your work will be similar, but it won't be identical or rote. Push into new markets and talk to new editors. Improve the approach to your profession so that you stretch your skills and increase your knowledge of craft. Toss the web for a week and use a library for research. Go on location to do some reporting. Try a different way of writing an article, even if think the results might not work. Just keep pushing - keep practicing. You'll never reach perfection, but you will gain satisfaction, and that's something that few jobs ever offer.