This week, meet writer David S from Sacramento, CA! Check out our blog every Wednesday for a new interview with our super talented and very interesting WriterAccess writers. For more featured writers, visit our Writer Wednesday category.
What got you started on your path to becoming a freelance writer?
The short answer is the economy. The long answer is my last employer bounced $6000 worth of my payroll checks and left me on the verge of being homeless. But I am a fighter so I put my education to work for me and started looking at ways to make money. With high unemployment and 400-500 applicants for a single job, it did not seem likely that finding a new job would pay off for me. I started at another freelance writing company and then found WriterAccess while looking for more work. I have to say that I feel like this is my home. I have been here for almost four years. I have watched this place grow. I don’t think there is ever enough good things said for the team at WriterAccess… There are a lot of great things said, but it is never enough.
Tell us a little bit about the novel you’re working on for Kindle—and how you have the time to write it while freelancing!
I am working on a sci-fi Fantasy novel that is currently around 200 pages. I would like to see it published this summer. It is a story about the diversity of people, and how despite difference everyone has strengths and weaknesses. It is about working together as a team to solve problems, and of course to defeat evil. Throw in a few Goblins, Orcs, and maybe a dragon and you’d have my novel. It is called The Blackened Tower.
I make time to write this story because it is a story that wants to be told. I have to be very efficient with my time. I write about 50,000 +/- words per month for WriterAccess, and I go to college full time. I also have two scientific projects that I am working on at the same time. I study wasps and their relationship to the environment. Just keep typing, right?
According to your profile, you’re also working on an A.S. in entomology. What gave you the itch to study bugs?
I have always loved insects from the time I was a small child. I used to pick up bumblebees as a child. I find bees and wasps really fascinating. Some are social insects and live in colonies with roles, and rule, and behaviors. Others are solitary. Most are pretty non-aggressive…some are overly aggressive. Pepsis wasps, for example, hunt and subdue spiders. Some actually do battle with tarantulas and win. The more I learn about wasps, the more fascinating they become. I was invited to go to Belize this June, as a guest of that country to help create an entomological catalog. I am currently working on an entomological catalog for the American River Foundation as a volunteer project.
Where is your favorite place to write?
I only write at home when I am at my desk. Everywhere else is too distracting. I am not a natural writer. It takes a lot of work on my part to produce something that is coherent. Even so, I have developed my niche here and enjoy the clients who provide me with constant work.
Have any tips for your fellow writers?
The best tip I can give is that writers need to recognize that this is a craft. It takes a willingness to learn and grow to develop your craft. Critical feedback from a client or from the WriterAccess editors is an opportunity to grow and develop your craft. Sure, it can be frustrating, but be open to changing your perspective so that you can grow as a writer. That was a hard lesson for me to learn. If you are new here, it takes time, but it is well worth the investment.
David S is a freelance writer available on WriterAccess, a marketplace where clients and expert writers connect for assignments.
Louis Roe is a content marketing intern at WriterAccess. Contact Louis on Twitter @lojoroe or by email Louis.Roe (at) WriterAccess.com.
