Matt, can you give us a bit more data about yourself? I'm looking for age, educational background, previous work experience. Nothing long winded, just a sentence or two.

Business chases value. With that in mind, what is the most valuable service you can offer the world today? Is it writing or something else? If writing, what subjects do you have an expertise? Think of yourself as a craftsman. What is the finest product/service you can craft today?

To avoid the stress ...

Spend 1/2 hour today to write up a small "disaster plan." It will be a short list of things you can do if an evil hurricane of doom hits and your entire freelance business dries up to $0/day. It might include things like bagging groceries at a local grocery within walking distance, or walking dogs for the neighbors. It doesn't matter what it is, just as long as you're comfortable with actually doing these things. Keep the disaster plan somewhere, and update it whenever you think of an even better survival scheme. Now that it's written down, this simple act will take an immense amount of stress off. Why? Because you will have faced your worst fear of failure and defeated it. Think about it. If the total absolute worst happened, you will be prepared for it. In this way, your worst fear will no longer have any power over you. Then your mind can switch gears from worrying about things to a completely different mindset: "how can I do things even better than yesterday?"

Another stress reliever: whenever you feel it coming on, stop whatever it is that you are doing, and take a 20 minute walk around the block. Sunshine and exercise and diverting your attention to the world outside can have an amazing effect. As an alternative, drop and do 20 push ups and 20 sit ups/crunches. Stressing the body heals the mind. And if it doesn't relieve the stress, at least you will get buff and be able to get a job at the local gym. :)