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When I tell people I am a freelance writer, my stomach always tenses a little while I wait for the inevitable second question.
“So, who do you write for?”
I’m a Belgian journalist who mostly writes for independent, English-language news publications. My interlocutors generally don’t know any of the publications I regularly write for.
The thing that annoys me about these conversations is that my professional career, my credibility as a writer is weighed in these brief chitchats. Or it feels that way at least.
Rationally, I know that people are just trying to make conversation and/or that they’re curious about my work, but those conversations always leave me feeling like a student blogger (no disrespect to bloggers) rather than someone who’s been working as a professional journalist for respectable publications for eight years.
These conversations have become so predictable that I sometimes try to get the upper hand as soon as I see the dreaded question coming. So that when I’m asked what publications I write for, I fire back with a question of my own: “What English-language publications do you read?”
This move – which I stole from the Netflix movie The Incredible Jessica James (more on that later) – makes me feel equal parts cunning and evil. Because the answer tends to be that they don’t ready any English-language news publications, an admission usually made in a hushed tone, with an embarrassed smile.
I love asking this question not because of the discomfort it produces, but because it establishes that my interlocutor doesn’t know the industry they’re asking me about at all. And that’s important.
Because the root cause of my frustration with these conversations is that my success, my credibility as journalist is decided by the brand recognition of the publications I write for, and it’s a standard of success I don’t agree with.
After another one of these conversations, I always have to remind myself that I have my own standards of success. And they are: Am I writing stories that are meaningful to me? Am I writing the kinds of stories I would write if I got a free pass to write about any topic of my choosing?
The answer to those questions on most days is ‘yes’.
I write about subjects that are meaningful and sometimes deeply personal to me, and I love the publications that I write these stories for, even though some of them might be unfamiliar to most people.
And why wouldn’t they be? The English-language media industry is vast and varied. Expecting me to write for, say, the New York Times or the BBC, is like expecting someone who tells you they’re a chef to work for some Michelin-starred restaurant. As if there aren’t thousands of chefs making great food every day at small restaurants whose fame usually doesn’t travel any further than the town they’re located in?
That’s something I also learned from the Netflix movie I mentioned earlier. In one of the pivotal, final scenes of that movie, the Jessica from the title, a twentysomething, aspiring playwright, meets the real-life, Tony Award-winning playwright Sarah Jones at a writers’ weekend for children Jessica helped organise.
The two start chatting about “making it” and how one can know that they’ve made it, and Jones’ candid answers help Jessica realise that being successful doesn’t have to mean having one of your plays produced on Broadway. It can and should be much simpler than that; success can mean simply doing the thing you love. In Jessica’s case, that’s giving theatre classes to children. “There’s really nothing more to it,” Jones says simply.
It’s a message I’ve really taken to heart. Because I don’t think success should be in the eye of the beholder. If the work I’m doing is meaningful to me; if it’s what I want to be doing, then I’m successful by the only standards for success that should matter. The ones you set for yourself.
Linda
What I’m reading, watching, listening to this week:
I explored whether journalists should publicly express their support for causes like Black Lives Matter in a story for the Media Diversity Institute. An example of exactly the kinds of stories I want to be writing, that are deeply meaningful to me.
A mental health-focused edition of this newsletter about apps that can make remote work easier. Disclaimer: out of all the apps the writer mentions, I’ve only used Woebot. But what a joy using that app has been! Who knew a chatbot could be so effective at helping you develop healthier thinking habits?
This IPSE explainer about the different strategies you can use to increase your rates as a freelancer.
This newsletter was written by Linda A. Thompson, a Belgian freelance journalist specialised in covering corporate tax and social injustice. She’s written for Bloomberg Law, Deutsche Welle, OZY, International Politics & Society, USA Today, Underpinned, IJNet and Equal Times.
You’ll hear from Selma Franssen in two weeks. Selma is a Dutch freelance journalist living in Brussels. She is the author of Vriendschap in tijden van eenzaamheidand has written for Charlie Magazine, OneWorld, De Morgen, De Standaard, The New Statesman, Bustle, Knack, VPRO, and Newsweek.