The Working Life of a Freelance Journalist    My working life and personal life are very intertwined. I work from home ostensibly but I fit 'work' into a very small time frame, ie, I have about 10 days a month on average where I'm working and the rest is free time.   Basically, my core work is for a news agency reporting on companies, people, events and news about Britain. I find the stories (usually through surfing the web/networking), make contact and either interview over the phone or ask for press releases and hi-res images from the press office of whichever organisation I'm dealing with). I do about 10-20 stories a month for the news agency - bread and butter stuff, 750-1,000 words per feature. The news agency has rights on the work overseas - I retain copyright within the UK which means if the story has wider interest, I can approach magazines or newspapers here and sell it to them too.   Then I have my other freelance work. I sit and think of something I've always wanted to do/somewhere I've always wanted to go/someone I've always wanted to meet. Then I work out who I need to talk to make it happen - and once I've done that, I make the call. When I've pulled it off and the arrangements are in hand, I make the call to the editors of magazines or newspapers that I write for and sell them the idea for the feature. Everybody wins - the PR or organisation gets coverage, the editor gets a feature and I get paid.   If it's a big gig - like flying a fighter jet, or going out on assignment with the police, it means lots of organisation - hotels, travel, etc; being freelance, I need to do it cheaply, so rely on free travel/accommodation/meals in return for a story/review about the organising putting out for me. Generally I'll go away for a few days.   Ditto overseas assignments and press trips. I make the arrangements, go, enjoy, come home, write. That way, I've travelled Concorde to New York, spent time reporting from Iraq, have flown almost every aircraft and fighter in RAF service, been to sea with the submarine service. I've flown around the globe, visited almost every country and continent on my wish list, all under the guise of work. And I get paid for it.  Celebrity interviews generally mean meeting at a restaurant in London - the restaurant pay for the food and drink in return for a review, which I can also write about and sell separately.   If it's a photocall, the client rings me, tells me what they want and I go out and get it/do it.   Consequently, I spend a lot of time in front of the PC, either writing or researching. I blog when I'm researching. Or away on assignment, as I did daily from Baghdad. And if it's a quiet period at the end of the summer, I’ll coast for a bit. To my clients and PRs, I'm a freelance editor/journalist and photorgapher. When I'm at home working though, and to those who know me, I'm basically a suburban house husband who does a bit of writing and photography which I get paid for. That's all there is to it. I get a lot of free time - as much as I want really, because I work for myself. So I take my daughter to school in the morning, and I can be here when she gets back. World Cup, Wimbledon and the Olympics mean I never miss a trick. If it's quiet on the work front, I can go shopping or see friends for lunch/coffee. If I'm working hard, I'm away. Or else I'll be in my home office with the door shut, curtains closed and in silence, writing away.   That's me. I like...