Adapt or Wait Tables: A Freelancer’s Guide - Book Review

If you’re looking for a breezy, pleasantly cynical description of freelance life, pick up a copy of Carol Wolper’s Adapt or Wait Tables. This book reads like a Saturday afternoon glass of wine with your cool artist aunt. Carol Wolper floats through some successes, failures, and anxieties of her freelance career as a writer in Hollywood–all in 75 and a half pages. 

This book is not a classic self help title, and as far as practical advice goes, it doesn’t offer much. This book simply paints an abstract picture of the kinds of partners to avoid, the sorts of meetings to take, and the level at which to set one’s expectations.

Imagine yourself driving 45 minutes into the San Fernando Valley to see your eccentric aunt. You sit on the exposed brick patio of her condo, and she offers you a substantial glass of wine, alongside a not-at-all-substantial afternoon snack. She asks you how freelancing is going, and after you utter one sentence, she proceeds to talk your ear off for 90 minutes about a smorgasbord of memories. Yet, as you drive home after the wine has (almost) worn off, you feel, somehow, better. If she can do this, so can you. 

I read Adapt in two sittings, within 18 hours of buying it. I’m glad I did. The main takeaway from this book is that while freelancing may not be easy, it’s rewarding if you stick with it.