Samantha Garner, Freelance Web Writer & Editor

I’ve been thinking lately about how wonderfully my freelancing career is going. It’s not because I’m swimming in riches or am the #1 freelancer in town. Neither of those are true, nor do I want them to be. The single biggest reason I love being a freelance writer/editor is that I get to meet some wonderful, courageous people.

My clients are typically small business owners or entrepreneurs and their spirit is infectious. I’ve had the fortune to work on some great, inspiring projects started by people who truly want to improve the world they live in. Now I’m not suggesting we all join hands and sing here, but I just wanted to take a moment to recognize this, publicly, in case there are people out there wondering about the benefits of becoming a freelance writer. For me, this is the biggest benefit. I likely would never have met my clients out in the world on my own, but simply because they needed writing and editing help on a project, I got to be a part of some great things.

Haha, okay, my sappy moment is done. Have a great week, everyone!

Earlier this week, my husband and I attended the launch of GoForth Institute, a Canada-wide entrepreneurship education centre I am proud to say is also a client of mine. It was lots of fun and it was wonderful to see this project come together. Go check them out! They are a group of truly insightful and kind people.

Here are a couple of things I’ve been reading online lately:

• How to Freelance the Specific, Smart Way at Men With Pens
• Junot Diaz writes about Becoming a Writer, an article that resonated with me and I’m sure will sound familiar, even a little bit, to other writers.

Have a good end of the work week!

Hilary Mantel won the Booker Prize for Wolf Hall, a historical novel centered on Thomas Cromwell. This is exciting to me because it’s the first I’ve heard of the book (I live under a rock, I know) and I’ve been particularly fascinated by the Tudor period for a long time. Part of me feels like I should mention I liked it before the Tudors TV series (which I do watch, but still), as if it would prove how much I like it. Weird, huh?

Either way, this is great and I’m definitely going to put it on my to-read list!

This is really interesting. Writer Andrew Smith blogs about his quest to self-publish his novel, Edith’s War. He works as a book designer, so he’s no starry-eyed newbie to the world of publishing. It sounds like it’ll be a compelling read – best of luck, Andrew!