My wife and I had talked a lot about insurance for me over the years, and we settled on the fact that no matter what I'd probably be able to write. It was pretty silly looking back on it, and I probably should have had some kind of income insurance. I could have done more work in that period, but it wouldn't have been of the quality I wanted to make. And so I chose to take a step back until things started to heal. I was lucky really that I had radio commentary and video work in that period, so while I missed out on two Tests (three, eventually) I still picked up a fair bit of work while I couldn't write.

I think over the years what I have worked out more is that diversity in your income is the key as a freelancer. Editors move on, websites change, radio stations don't buy rights and a coach is sacked and you're out of work. So that kind of thing has been my bread and butter for the last 4 years. Always having something on the go, whether that be consulting, writing, analysis, commentary or video, so that future proofing probably helped here.

I figure that most of the people who support my work financially are big fans, so they would be ok with me stepping back because of a serious injury. And as for being crowd sourced, I suppose it's no more risky than freelance. but the difference is that the people supporting you actually give a shit about you.

Over the last 18 months I think I've learnt more about the how to make freelance work than I did when I was actually earning from it. Passive incomes, multi formats, and creating different content has kind of become my thing through necessity, and it's made me really think about each project, and not just bang out a piece. Why am I doing this, does it work best here, what is the stage two, all that kind of stuff. So covid and my arm have probably taken me to the next step in my career, one I was unable to do when I first tried in 2015.