How I Became a Freelance Editor: The Journey to Muddled Ink

Hey, hey! My name is Ariel, and I am super excited to say . . . Welcome to my blog! If you couldn’t already tell by my website, I am a professional editor. I love what I do so much and the creation of this business was a long time in the making. I am ready to start creating content for y’all, and I am so eager to see where all this goes.

Before we start this content creation journey, how about I take you on a trip down memory lane and tell you how all this started?

I have loved words since I learned what they were, and that morphed into a love of reading, which later turned into a love of writing. English was always my favorite subject in school. You know the drill. One thing that has been consistent when it came to me and words is that errors in writing jump out at me as if I owe them money. It literally drove me up a wall when I couldn’t correct them.

I am all for transparency, and in the spirit of that, I have something to confess. I’ve been editing myself, the books I’m always reading, and everyone around me excessively for years. Dare I say, I might have had a real problem. I now know I truly did. I had all this writing and editing know-how and nowhere to put it. I was basically constipated with knowledge! I am honestly really disappointed in myself that I didn’t come up with the idea myself.

Let’s roll it forward to mid-2018.

I was working in a deli, slicing meats and cheeses and getting yelled at by middle-aged women every day, when I finally decided to take the plunge. I had been researching ways I could take advantage of my very niche experience and skillset for weeks at this point. I found a blog about freelance writing. Being a writer who was constantly told the only way I could write for a living was if I got a degree for it, you could say I was more than intrigued. On a rare day off from work, I went into deep planning mode. I created my first freelancer profile under the name Aria J. After taking a few content and copywriting courses, I quickly realized I didn’t like writing to feel like work, so it was back to the drawing board.

I had a strong feeling that freelancing was definitely the move, so I kept looking into it. One of my more frequent side hustles was helping students with their academic essays, and while talking a student through some notes I had given them, they asked me if editing was what I planned to do after school. It was like a light bulb went off in my brain. If writing was such a popular freelance service, editing for the writing has to also be sought after and lucrative, right? Turns out, I was right. I enrolled in a course to learn how to edit per industry standards (check out my girl, Phon Baillie). I have since received a few certifications from her. I shifted my entire online presence to show I was an editor ready to work and it was up from there. I’ve been working as an editor for the last five years.

What are my goals for this blog? Wow, such an amazing question. I’m so happy you asked.

With this blog, I plan to educate you on the things I am knowledgeable about. I want to provide info, tips, and hacks to help you become a more intentional and confident writer. As a debuting independent author and poet, I’ll also be sharing my experiences as I pursue a full-time writing career alongside growing Muddled Ink. I consider myself a forever student, always studying writing, storytelling, and editing. Anything I learn, so will you. I am a true bookworm to my core, so I’ll be posting book reviews and author spotlights as well (something no one asked for, but I’m hoping y’all will still giggle and ramble with me.)

How often will I be posting? Look at you! I love the interest you’re showing! It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

Right now, my goal is to post here once a week. Knowing me, however, that’s a loose estimate. It could mean some weeks you’ll get two posts a week or maybe you’ll get three or more. Either way, you win! See what I mean? Transparency.

That all being said, my overall goal is to connect with and help my readers, so feel free to comment with any questions or conversation starters you may have about writing, editing, punctuation, grammar, or even my writing career moves.

As a send-off, in the weeks to come, I hope y’all enjoy my (somewhat inappropriate) personality, but most of all, I hope you enjoy and take something of substance from the blog!

I look forward to connecting with y’all!