Write Loneliness Away for Good

Greetings to all you wonderful wordsmiths,

And welcome back to Writer’s Juice, the newsletter so good they’re creating a new Nobel Prize category to recognise its contribution to the field of email marketing.

Shout out to Greg from Cryptoversal Books for scooping up last week’s “FEAR” sketch. Cryptoversal Books is a novel platform specialising in the tokenisation of ebooks. Go check it out!

I don’t know where you are sitting as you read this newsletter, but I’m in a room all by myself as I write it.

I’m a Freelance Writer you see. You’ll find are many of us online. Most of us ditched the 9-5 world for the chance to taste freedom and do things by our own terms.

But the harsh reality we all come to face is that we’ve swapped the camaraderie and real-world bonds from the office coffee corner with a seat in an empty room, while we sit and stare at blank pages.

Loneliness can be a real challenge to Freelance Writers.

Today, we’ll tackle this issue by:

• Understanding what loneliness does to you

• Uncovering the signs that people don’t catch

• Taking action to keep momentum and avoid depression

Let’s do this one together, shall we?

✍️ Loneliness ✍️

Seen through the lens of an online writer, loneliness is an incredibly important phenomenon to be aware of. This is because it affects your mental health and your cognitive abilities; 2 vital aspects you need to keep control of as a Freelance Writer.

Loneliness creeps up on you and begins to attack your physical and mental well-being, often to the point where you take much worse care of yourself than you really ought to.

As an independent worker, with no colleagues or boss to warn you of your wayward ways, monitoring your loneliness should be treated as a non-negotiable mental check.

But what are the signs to be aware of? How do you spot yourself slipping, when your focus is pointed within?

Have you noticed any recent increase in the following behaviours and emotions?

🚩 Social withdrawal

🚩 Emotional exhaustion

🚩 Decreased self-esteem

🚩 Lack of social connections

🚩 Persistent feelings of emptiness

🚩 Increased reliance on technology

🚩 Difficulty in maintaining relationships

Sure, we all get a bit of the above, but when 2, 3, 4 or more start adding up, maybe it’s time to pull the alarm…

So, dear reader, as I write this from newsletter my solitary desk in Prague, who better to look to for guidance than fellow writer Franz Kafka?

Troubled and intimidated by the relationship with his strict father, Franz Kafka led a difficult and lonely life.

Physical health and other psychological issues beleaguered his life, but his unique writing style led to numerous literary classics. Kafka dived deep into his loneliness and arose with works of literature such as The Metamorphosis and The Trial, stories that depicted characters trapped in oppressive systems, struggling to find their place in the world.

Kafka dealt with his loneliness in the best way he could, by writing. It’s through the deeply emotional letter to his father that we discover the extent of his troubled mind - the same mind that produced some of the finest literature of the 20th Century.

Loneliness affects us all in some form or another. By closely monitoring it's impact on our lives, we can stop it gaining ground and affecting our abilities as professional writers.

Remember that loneliness is an emotion, and writing from your strongest emotional states often leads to your most powerful writing.

However you decide to proceed, don’t let loneliness consume you.

🎯 Take Action 🎯

1. Build your support network. Connect with other writers through online communities, writing groups, or social media platforms. Pay it forward by sharing each other’s wins, linking to their articles and proof-reading their works in progress. The more you give, the better support you’ll receive in your own moment of need.

   Hint: The Writer’s Juice Discord community is free to join.

2. Get out the house and enter the real world. Too much online time is hazardous for your health. Schedule some breaks and connect with other people. This could be friends and family but you could also attend some writing meetups or give a coworking space a try. This subtle change in scenery will fuel you with thoughts and inspiration for future writing sessions.

3. Now balance your newfound support with some self-reflection time. Take those quiet moments of solitude to dig deep into yourself. Try your hand at journaling, work on an idea capture system or meditate to calm your negative thoughts. There is only so much time in the day, so you might as well make the most of it!

If this topic sparks your interest, here’s some further reading:

• Franz Kafka, Wikipedia

• Dealing With Impostor Syndrome, Writer’s Juice

🐝 What’s Buzzing? 🐝

Here’s what caught my attention in the world of freelance writing over the past few days. Very much email related this week:

• Email service provider Beehiiv joins the AI bandwagon and launches Beehiiv AI. This powerful tool is only available for “Scale” and “Enterprise” level accounts.

• On the same day of Beehiiv AI’s launch, Tutanota says a hard NO to AI in their own email platform.

• Another large email service provider, ConvertKit, launches ConvertKit Marketplace, a platform full of email templates built for creators, by creators.

• Norton launches Phictionary, an online dictionary to help you avoid phishing attacks. Stay safe out there!

💗 Show Some Love 💗

Are you getting value from this newsletter? I hope so!

My goal is to help unlock your potential as a Freelance Writer. I’ve poured countless hours into researching and crafting these juicy tips for you.

If you’d like to show your support, you can collect my sketches over on OpenSea. I’ll be posting exclusive 1-of-1 pieces to complement the newsletter topics. As they’re 1-of-1s, it’s first come, first served!

Here’s today’s sketch: ALONE. Hand drawn using Krita’s open source software and a Logitech mouse.

You can grab this digital collectible here.

🏆 Win-Win-Win 🏆

I created this newsletter to guide writers along their freelance journey. But it doesn’t stop there.

Whether you’re an aspiring writer, project founder or business owner, here are 3 more ways I can help out.

Everybody wins!

1. Join the free Writer’s Juice community where you’ll find a ton of useful resources, writing-themed discussion channels and a friendly network of likeminded writers.

2. Need support with your project’s online content? Why not pass by my Contra portfolio site and let’s work together.

3. Want to share your product or service with an audience of passionate writers, digital nomads and fast-rising freelancers? Send an email and let’s discuss sponsorship details.

Thanks for reading.

Talk to you next time,

Jason

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