Remember that getting some other gig can still be a temporary state of affairs. I am always 30 days away from being a barista again, but I know it’ll help me write to get out of the house and be around people again. (I can’t leave the house and write in a shop somewhere because every jaunt outside seems to cost money, somehow, and lately it’s all about making money versus spending money, isn’t it?)

Can I say, though, that I love the notion of “proper,” which we just don’t have over here. It’s one of my favorite aspects of British language. I heard “proper job” and I thought, “a real job” in the sense of “a necktie and a slog,” not as a commentary against the life of a freelancer. I read irony in that, which it sounds like the speaker didn’t intend. Different countries and all that.

Anyway, my point is this: I forbid you to regard addition of other work to freelancing as failure. It is, rather, the nature of freelancing to have to react to the market. Certainly, though, I recommend looking for other niches and farming out for other work. I keep a toe in paper gaming because I love it and I want to impress some people there in a manner I haven’t been able to do yet, but that’s not where my checks come from lately. The UK has a great game culture and video-game development scene brewing — look for entryways there.

Maybe a different niche?

Good luck Mr Wood. Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that for any of us.

And amen to this sentiment. It is a proper job, indeed.