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[quote=Anonymous]You've got to put yourself out there and do some pro-bono jobs, for the PTA or preschool, your church or a friend. Then set up a website for yourself, include links to or PDFs of those jobs, and start networking. Get on LinkedIn, MeetUp, join the Chamber of Commerce. Chat up a real estate agent, for example, and offer ridiculously low rates to jazz up a home listing. BUT do your research and spend some time scouring real estate sites to get a feel for what works, what doesn't, and what's appropriate. That takes time, and skill.

I've been freelancing successfully for more than 20 years, and most years my earnings do a nice job of covering extras like vacations, home furnishings, etc.  I'm lucky to have the work come to me; I don't have to market myself all that much. But it helps that I started out in corporate communications, did well, and people remembered my work. "I was an English major" won't get you places unless you can add that you spent X years in the Y industry, or have helped to build 3 websites.

Don't fall into the trap of "writing about parenting;" honestly, no one cares about a SAHM's view of parenting anymore.

It's fun to sit back and imagine quiet mornings at the computer with your steaming cup of coffee and a dog snoozing by your side, typing away about your amusing insights for glossy magazines. That's really not what freelancing is like for most of us. Frequently, it's "I need this website copy rewritten before EOD," and you're scrambling to produce readable copy between Gymboree and t-ball. You're trying to convince clients that you're worth $XX/hour when they want to pay you babysitting-level money because "ANYone could do this; I would do it myself if I had TIME!" And if a client wants you to write about 16th-century French crockery, you're quickly giving yourself a PhD course on the topic.[/quote]

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