The Writer 03.2020

12 | The Writer • March 2020

FREELANCE SUCCESS

BY PETE CROATTO

O

ur daughter is 3 years old.
Finally, I feel like I can
write something potent
about parenthood and its
place in the freelance writer’s life...
Hold on. She just vomited every-
where in the bathroom – except the
toilet.
OK, back to it. Yeah. No. I’ve had
three straight nights staying up until 2
a.m. because I have to fact-check my
manuscript. I want to have a clear
mind. Three hours of hearing my voice
on tape has gutted me.
Look, here’s the thing. It’s so impor-
tant in this tumultuous era of...Sorry,

it’s pizza night, and the kid wants to eat

at the restaurant. Great, she vomited

again as we were about to pull out of

the driveway. She’s inconsolable

because she can’t have pizza. Explana-

tions are doing little good. I’m

exhausted. Tomorrow is Sunday and

my wife has to work all day, so I am on

dad duty for eight hours.

I can tell you all this now, at 12:

a.m. on Monday morning. Everyone is

asleep, and my deadline is later today;

necessity is a hell of a restorative.

Three-plus years of parenthood has

provided me the ability to offer advice

to freelance writers that can fit on a

gift shop hand towel and the clarity to

explain it.

Submit to the chaos.

I operate every day under the

assumption that at any point my work-

day will explode. I also operate under

the certainty that I can rebound from

that deficit. I mean, I wrote a 100,000-

word manuscript in five months, and

this after I lost two weeks of work time

to my wife and daughter being sick.

I’m not saying this to brag but to add

credence to my philosophy.

A giant benefit of working as a free-

lance writer is you can create your own

hours. It just may not be the hours you

Writing with kids, part III

It’s all about submitting to the chaos. Here’s why you should do

that to save your sanity.

Go

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