Making a living as a freelance writer depends on making choices that prevent your career from stalling out. Your level of success is directly proportional to the following 10 choices.

1. Choose to learn the business of marketing yourself.

As James Clear states in his blog 10 Reasons Your Freelance Career is Failing, you can complain, or you can learn to play the game. Writing is about more than the ability to craft words. It's about marketing. It's about sales skills. It's about knowing how to package yourself.

The best website with a full portfolio is only going to land a few clients. You need to be prepared to go looking for work when the work doesn't come to you. It goes back to learning the business.

You are going to have to spend time talking with prospects. You will lose valuable writing time "selling" your services. Expect it. In the process you will keep freelance writing work flowing into your funnel.

2. Choose to specialize.

There are certain niches you know and resonate with inherently. Start there. Expand into allied niches if you are the type that tends to get bored with one topic. Avoid providing services to a niche you don't have a serious interest in. And don't try to provide every service possible.

I spent two years writing technology articles for one client. While I had a happy client, it never got any easier for me. I always felt drained when I finished the quota for the month. At first, I thought I'd be able to get comfortable with the topic. As time passed, I realized it just wasn't going to click with my abilities.

Specializing might be frightening, but it pays off. You'll be more productive and find it easier to avoid some of the following career stalling obstacles.

3. Choose not to procrastinate.

This is so easy to do when you've taken on a project that puts you outside of your comfortable space. It can also be tempting when you have a client that's demanding.

Unfortunately, putting off discomfort doesn't remove it. It only delays it.

4. Choose to put in time.

You don't have to work seven days a week. In fact, I don't recommend it. It's good to take a day off, not just once in a while. Once a week! I've learned that all work and no play, makes me a dull writer. Adequate rest, sufficient exercise, Saturday's off--they all add up to a brain that remains healthy and facile.

At the same time if you want your career to remain successful, you have to nurture self-discipline. You have to work regular hours. Sleeping in, putting in short days, watching TV every night all adds up to time you didn't spend nurturing your writing career. Sure you need to schedule time to remain balanced, just be sure you're also scheduling work time.

5. Choose to treat your writing as a career.

Only so much time should be spend learning about your craft and marketing yourself. The rest of your time must be spend doing your craft.

Limit yourself to tweaking your website content once every few months, or when you really need to. Keep blogging time under control. If you treat your career like it's a hobby, it will generate hobby-like income. If you focus on side issues, your career will stall.

6. Choose to pay yourself an appropriate wage.

When you first start out, you usually charge less to build a portfolio. That's a good strategy. As you prove yourself, raise your rates and stop complaining that you aren't earning enough. You may leave some clients behind in the process. If you are really giving it all you have, and you are truly a good writer, you'll continue to attract clients.

7. Choose to make decisions and follow through with them.

There will always be more than one path to follow. Robert Frost's famous poem, The Path Not Taken, resonates with the fact that you may always feel some regret for a decision you can't go back to, yet taking a path and moving down it makes "all the difference." Your career will stall if you remain indecisive.

8. Choose to pursue some projects that challenge you.

This might seem to contradict the second point, yet it complements it. Begin small. Explore new opportunities. Don't be too afraid to take risks.

If you don't know HTML for example, take a beginner's course so you understand it. It will help you meet some basic client needs and add value to your work. Learn how to format documents for ePublishing.

9. Choose to ask for referrals and mentor support.

Most of your clients will give you referrals and testimonials if you ask. Many freelance writers are happy to share tips with you, if you just ask.

10. Choose to balance perfection with getting things done.

Avoid the perfection trap. Aim for it at all times, yet don't let your inability to meet some ideal of perfection get in your way. It's always the best time to write, no matter how you feel today.