Freelance writer Ian McInnes
Click here to view Ian's full freelance profile on Journalism.co.uk.
Why did you choose to become a freelancer?
I didn't particularly. I had sold my interest in a construction business and had moved up to the Isle of Mull for a while. I'm not quite sure how it happened but word got around that I could put a couple of sentences together (years of writing estimates and contracts I guess) and I ended up doing part-time work for the Oban Times and it went from there.
If you trained, where? If not, how did you become a freelancer?
The school of life and hard knocks. Working for the paper I saw the opportunity to work from home and applied for various online gigs. One of my first was working for a major pet web site in the US, two years of writing about tropical fish.
Do you specialise in any particular field and what areas do you write about?
Yes, nowadays its oil, gas, aerospace, defence and occasionally agriculture.
Which publications have you been published in?
Too many to list, but regular gigs now are for Newsbase, Offshore Technology and Industrial Fuel and Power. I have worked for the national dailies before and for CTV in Canada.
Which articles, in which publication, are you the most proud of?
They're all good. But the one that stands out as prophetic perhaps is Too little, Too Late, for the now defunct Planet on Sunday back in 1999. It was about warming in the Atlantic Ocean. Sadly the title still fits today.
What are the best and worst aspects of freelancing?
The best is the freedom and the worst in the uncertainty of knowing when your money is coming in.
Do you have any interesting anecdotes in relation to your experience as a freelancer?
Wandering around the forest in western Canada to take pictures of wolf activity for an agricultural magazine. Finding plenty of material to shoot and wondering if the camera is really enough.
Free daily newsletter
If you like our news and feature articles, you can sign up to receive our free daily (Mon-Fri) email newsletter (mobile friendly).
