Over the last week I have completed four paid writing assignments in very good time, with a total word count north of 10,000. It is the first time since I’ve been doing this that I felt as though I accomplished something meaningful and wasn’t just grinding for the sake of it.

I’m sure that I can accomplish that much in a week, so it gives me a boost of confidence to try and get more to do. The dream is to do work that is less active but I do enjoy writing pieces from scratch when I have almost complete creative control. I also believe I can be getting paid more for the work but I want to put in my paces and get a good process going.

As always, there is a persistent voice saying “There’s no way you can get paid what you think you can for this kind of work.” and I have to kindly push that voice out of focus so I can keep trying. There are people out here getting disgustingly wealthy for way shadier things in the same space, so why shouldn’t I be able to get independently wealthy doing honest, well-thought-out work?

Self-promotion feels dirty to me for some reason, and I need to get to the bottom of why I stifle myself in such a way. If I were to become a better promoter of my own ability, I would have more work than I could possibly hope to get done. Just another instance of “Put up or shut up.” I guess.