Masters Professional Writing – study and freelancing

The Master of Arts (Writing and Literature) has several streams of study, one of which is growing rapidly – Professional Writing.

Cherry Katoch’s Freelance Experience in Professional Writing demonstrates how she is balancing study and developing global freelancing skills…

Cherry is just completing the professional writing stream.  She arrived from India at the start of the lockdown in 2020, and has managed the last two years within that context. She has balanced her study with being a freelance digital content writer, managing the global shutdown by working from home.

I started working as a freelance in an exciting way four years ago [in India]. I got to know from one of my friends that there are freelancing platforms where you can create your profile and look for the work of your choice, and from there, I explored the platform Upwork. I created my profile there and added my skills as a writer, although I came from an I.T. background. I am a Computer Science Engineer turned into a full-time freelance digital content writer.

Upwork, formerly Elance-oDesk, is an American freelancing platform. In 2015, the Elance-oDesk merger was rebranded as Upwork and the company’s full name is now Upwork Global Inc.

“One of the greatest advantages of utilizing freelancers is finding a great variety of talent with different skills and bringing on new talent quickly as our needs change.” Carol Taylor, Director of Content Experience, Microsoft

Being a freelancer, I have worked for multiple organisations at the same time. Over the period of time and with experience, I was able to fetch three long-term collaborations, which worked really well for me. From there, I decided to do master’s in arts with majors in Professional Writing from Deakin University. My first job in Melbourne, Australia, was as a freelance student content contributor with IDP Australia. I wrote blogs for them and still am a freelance content writer for them. I also did one-time projects picked from Airstasker where I wrote content for the clients in different niches like pet care, cleaning, French tutorials, FIFO workers and much more. 

Airtasker is a Sydney-based Australian company which provides an online and mobile marketplace enabling users to outsource everyday tasks.

Users describe the task and indicate a budget, community members then bid to complete the task.

The best thing being a freelancer is that it allows people to choose the workload according to their availability. In my case, when I have my university trimester going on, I take the projects which are short-term or one-time as they don’t consume a lot of my time and I am able to give time to my studies as well. Freedom to select the workload really matters as it helps me to manage my personal life and work life in the best possible way.

Sample jobs from ArtsHub illustrate the growth of the flexible professional writing freelancer:

Copywriter/content writer (from Fileroom Pty Ltd in Perth):

Part time or casual; able to work remotely; work when it suits you as long as deadlines are met; join a growing company that values its employees – part-time, casual or freelance team members to write, proofread and edit…

Business Content Writer (from SEIVA, Melbourne)

Flexible working arrangements; creative and varied role; opportunity for a talented writer to create engaging content for the small business community…