Write you are…

Freelancing has taught me that some of the personality traits I’d class as negative can actually make you* a better freelancer. That’s the peculiar thing about freelance journalism: it turns the personality types required for some roles right on their heads.

Procrastination.
“Journalists need deadlines,” an editor said to me once. “Otherwise you won’t write the thing, you’ll just look out of the window.” He was right. A lot of freelancers leave things to the last minute, faffing around until they’re right up against it. It’s not unusual to see comments such as: “I need to file in an hour and I’m on Facebook/Twitter instead, why do I do it to myself?!”

But actually, the ability to do a good job, and do it quickly, under pressure, is vital. It means you can cope with short-notice commissions and pressurised shifts. Spending less time on your work means using up less of your time (which is money) to earn the same fee. The freelancers I know who procrastinate in this way do end up doing a good job, so perhaps what they’re really doing is taking the amount of time they need… and no more. They’d probably be less stressed if they didn’t leave things until the last minute, but they’ve got more disposable time as a result.

I’m not saying they thrive under pressure. I agree this is probably a myth: people tell themselves they work well under pressure, but that’s because they leave themselves a small amount of time and then have to work well in it. There was a great piece on this in the Observer (I think) a while back, but I can’t seem to find the link. But the people who do things at the last minute do them more quickly, and that’s not such a bad skill. When I work in offices (newspapers, copywriting agencies and suchlike) people often comment on how quickly I work. I once intentionally slowed down as I was making an in-house staff member look bad (which is a big no-no).

And you know what? If someone asks me to write a feature in one day, including tracking down and interviewing case studies, I’ll say yes. For example, when this piece for the Guardian was commissioned I had no interviewees lined up and didn’t even have much up-to-date information. I got the commission at around 4pm and filed just after 7pm the next day. That’s a grand total of one working day spent on information gathering, finding case studies, interviewing, writing and tweaking.

The key is to switch things around, so you do the work first and then faff afterwards. But really, whose time management is better? The person who spends ages on a piece of work, or the person who can do it in one day flat?

Grumbling.
When did you last read a first-person feature about someone who’s completely happy with their life, had a perfectly happy childhood, has no emotional issues, likes their body and is in brilliant health? Let’s face it, you’d want to punch them. Conflict is the essence of drama – and of good feature-writing. For every positive, there’s going to be a negative. Why? Because who’d read a magazine or newspaper features section packed full of perfect people boasting about their brilliant lives? Readers want triumph over tragedy, not smugness. They want to admire how the person overcame this or that trauma, read about their weird health problems, or feel secretly relieved they haven’t gone through the same thing.

So if you haven’t got anything to moan about, then you’ve got much less to write about. Real-life horrors, hang-ups and health issues are prime freelance currency. I’ve sold features on my weird health issues, my ex failing to pay a joint bill, my annoyance over Facebook relationship statuses, the fact I hate going on holiday with friends, my complete lack of confidence in the kitchen, being bullied at school, having swine flu (which got quoted in The Week) and my annoyance at having a January birthday, among many other things. Fact: finding things to moan about helps pay my rent.

And you can add nosiness (you don’t find things to write about by not asking nosy questions or eavesdropping at every possible opportunity) and a butterfly mind (concentration is great and all, but so is the ability to do lots of things at once), too. So tell me: what other character flaws make you a better freelancer?

*I say you, because obviously I am efficient and well-organised at all times. I am especially not writing this blog post while procrastinating from doing actual work.