You are not totally alone

Of NASW's 2,310 members, 850 identify themselves as freelance writers, says executive director and institutional memory Diane McGurgan.

Such a firm-sounding statistic obscures a great deal of debate and uncertainty about what "freelance" really means. Does the term imply full-time freelancepersonship? Can you freelance just a little bit? Can you freelance this year, work for a corporation next year, go back to freelancing, and still call yourself a freelance?

Mercenary soldiers of the Middle Ages became freelances when they carried the weapons (lances; catch on?) of anyone who paid them (or promised to pay them). The record is not clear on whether the mercenaries had to sign indemnification clauses and watch their electronic rights disappear across the battlefield.

Modern writers may prefer a definition offered by Merriam Webster's College Dictionary: "a person who pursues a profession without a long-term commitment to any one employer."

But even this is subject to endless debate. Are we really members of a profession, or are we craftspeople? And can anyone, even non-freelances, afford long-term commitment to one employer these days?