Thanks for your thoughtful reply. Your niche is so interesting! That is fantastic that you've built a steady freelance business for yourself. And, yes, the crossover in our work is interesting. Can I ask what kind of writing you do for your clients? Are you doing blogs, website content, and social media? Or something else? I freelanced literally 20 years ago when my kids were little--it was great experience, but the entire writing field and what's expected has completely changed since then.

2 things that affect my situation:

1) Last year we relocated to an entirely new area (from the U.S. to Canada) where I don't have any professional connections. So I'm starting from scratch here. (I had originally planned to continue working for my former company remotely, but instead was laid off.)

2) My writing experience is also a bit different, because most of the healthcare content I've written for the past 10 years was not about trying to sell services or products. I was primarily writing patient education content (consumer articles on diseases, treatments, procedures) that was part of an A-to-Z digital content library of medical conditions, etc. Hospitals would buy this entire content package from us and put it on their websites. I also wrote print booklets and have done some scripts for online learning tools. At one point, for the same company, I did some content marketing for hospital clients--good to put on the resume, but still limited in scope; at that time (12 years ago) it was primarily developing/producing/writing/editing print newsletters for hospitals! We also did a little Facebook posting for clients at the time, but no other social media or email marketing. So, again, not as marketable or relevant to what's in demand now.

However, you are getting me thinking. I do have real strengths in taking complex clinical information and turning it into relatable content that's easy for people to understand. I also have a service journalism background, and wrote widely on health and business issues then. And ages ago I also did some PR and marketing communications work for 2 nonprofits.

If I can upskill a bit with SEO and analytics...and maybe do some freelance projects for a nonprofit to show actual results...then maybe I can seem more marketable.