I’ve worked as a freelance journalist and blogger and I can honestly say that there is nothing more valuable than the freedom to write what you feel. When you’re writing for someone else to pay the bills, the writing, even though it’s yours, it really isn’t. You have to be objective,  you have to deal with facts not feelings. That’s just how the cookie crumbles if you’re writing for a pay cheque. I am sure there are multitudes of blogs online where the author claims they are writing for themselves but if they’re on someone else’s payroll, they’ll have limits and guidelines they won’t be allowed to push. That is definitely NOT the same as writing what you want when you want.

I look upon the time I spend blogging about the highs and lows of being me as something very precious. Blogging for myself is still one of the most important and best parts of my day. It’s where I can take all my frustrations, worries and doubts and sort them out by writing about them – or at least try to. Obviously, there are other aspects to working through problems (like family and friends) but there is nothing better than writing them down whether that be online or in a journal or a diary. Even if that’s where you start, it’s a great start and it’s yours.

I honestly don’t miss writing for a living – not the type of writing I did anyway. If I was writing short stories or novels, it’d be a different experience because that is writing what you want and what you feel and bringing worlds and characters to life (even though you’re still writing to a deadline, you have the power to create things that are yours to create).

Treasure your words as if they were gold because they truly are.