Route one - find your BIG IDEA and go for it. Distill everything you've got down to one mammoth project, then put it's importance way above your sanity and well-being. Hopefully by the end you'll have something so much better than a dribs-and-drabs approach that nobody could turn it down. Plus you'll be happy for the rest of your life knowing you've done it even if it isn't a commercial success.
Route two - Beligerance. Don't take no for an answer and certainly don't take it for a greeting. Beat down doors. Stab your way, shag your way, blag your way to the top of whatever it is you want to be top of. Take no prisoners. Eat the meat. Slay the dragon. Enter the courtyard and dance with the maidens. Be a man. Care about people. Buy a fast car. Drive it. Live it. Love it. Fight, kill and ROAST those who stand before you. Step on heads. Headbutt steps. Swallow the dream. Erm, what I meant to say was "keep trying and brush off faliure". A lot of the time freelancing seems like trying to break through a dam armed with a plastic spoon, but success in such things usually snowballs from minor starting points. Sidepoint - when opportunity comes don't just take it, build on it.
Route three - hang around with succesful people and drop them like flies when someone more succesful comes along.
3 works better than 2 which works better than 1. All involve massive amounts of self-doubt and even self-loathing that will need to be cast off as soon as they appear. And most importantly remember to love the journey rather than think about the destination.
― A / F#m / Bm / D (Lynskey), Tuesday, 5 April 2005 22:19 (twenty years ago)