Mike Elkin, reporter, Spain; covered Tunisia, Libya and Egypt in 2011:

I had been freelancing for a while out of Madrid, but the work was becoming both scarce and repetitive. A Spanish freelancer and I had spoken for a year about working together to cover hot spots, and when the revolution erupted in Tunisia we put that plan into motion. I didn't have much time to contact editors before leaving (I think I bought my ticket the night before) so I only wrote a few stories, but I got a feel for how things worked in that environment and then shifted to Cairo, where work increased and I was able to make more contacts. 

But the freelancing didn't really take off until we went to Benghazi in early March. There, I was writing non-stop for various media outlets around the world.Overall, I had a good experience freelancing the Arab Spring. All my editors helped (with some cheerful prodding on my part) to get me as high a rate as possible, and many chipped in for expenses. I think the hardest part was keeping all my pitches and stories straight when dealing with around five strings. That and making sure I was able to get enough sources and quotes for different stories without repeating. Those late nights writing at the Al Wahad or the Al Nouran in Benghazi involved a bit of forced schizophrenia.