Have you ever thought about becoming a full-time writer? If you’re reading this blog, I’m guessing that you have. Or maybe you’re already writing professionally, but would like to 1) find writing work you’re more passionate about or 2) earn more.
The question is, why haven’t you done it yet?
In mid-2014, I quit my job as an accountant and became a full-time writer. Sounds like a dream right?
How can what you’re writing be more you?
Because in this world it’s so easy to be not you.
Three years ago, I was like many of you. Just starting out. Not a clue which way to go. I had an idea for a book and that was it, but I wanted to become a full-time writer.
Fast forward a couple years, and I’m doing this for a living (on top of being a stay-at-home dad). I make a living writing fiction, but everything didn’t converge until four months ago. So what did I do to get here?
As I’m writing this, it’s a cloudy morning in Georgia. The sticky heat of summer has finally let off. The crickets are still going away and the trees look marvelous. That’s one thing you don’t get in California, at least the part of California I grew up, huge, green trees everywhere.
And as I’m looking at them, sipping my coffee, I asked myself, when was the last time you noticed those trees? When was the last time you were this grateful just to be alive?
It’s been my experience that all my best writing—and most satisfying writing time—comes out of this place of gratefulness, this rootedness in the moment.
However, I’m in the process of launching a book right now, and I don’t have time to look at trees or even write very much. All I have time to do, it seems, is market. Of course, nearly every author today is struggling with the same thing. We all have to market our books. We all have to hustle if we want our words to spread. Which leads me and others to the question:
Is it possible to write and market your books at the same time? And on a larger scale, is today’s publishing reality keeping us from creating our best art?
