So right now I’m going through an online business training program (B-School), and one of the things we’ve talked a lot about lately is our “why.”
Your “why” is the reason that you do the things you do (or care about the things you care about). It’s what drives you. It’s what gets you out of bed in the morning.
Your “why” is the fuel that keeps you going when things get tough and you want to quit.
You likely have a lot of “whys” for different parts of your life. But what’s your writing “why?”
Why do you write? Why do you want to write?
Take some time to think about this. Let it marinate in your subconscious.
See what bubbles to the surface.
I’ve spent a lot of time these last couple weeks really digging in and discovering what my why is. I have a lot of reasons for doing the work I do.
But when it comes down to it, my why is simple: I believe in taking control of your writing career.
You should never leave your writing dream in the hands of an agent or publisher. And you definitely shouldn’t leave it to chance, either.
If you’re serious about being an author, you have to do the writing, yes, but you also have to take control.
That means:
- Having A Team to Support You–your team can (and should) include the following: a writing coach, an editor, a designer and a book marketer.
- Self-Publishing–fuck the traditional route. Stories are meant to be out in the world. Let the readers decide.
- Building A Readership–creating a platform for yourself as a writer and growing your readership. The more books you self-publish and promote, the bigger your audience will grow.
If a story idea comes to you, it’s not a mistake. You are meant to write it. You are meant to bring it to life.
You cannot take this mission lightly. You have to be all-in.
Serious writers know you have to fully invest in yourself–your time, your energy, your focus, and your money. Because it does take money to be a professional.
To get where I’m at in my writing career today, I’ve invested upwards of $150,000–in a journalism degree, various fiction writing classes and programs, various business programs, lectures and workshops, and working with a writing coach, business coach, editor, designer and book marketer.
The money, time and energy I’ve invested has helped me to:
- Become a published author–of three books, and counting
- Get my blog awarded one of the Top 10 Blogs for Writers in 2015
- Take on high-paying freelance writing projects
- Create a business where I help serious writers write and revise novels
- Build a career where I get paid to do work I love
That’s the thing about making an investment in yourself: it always pays off ten-fold.
And you’re worth it.
Wanna Get Serious?
I work with serious emerging novelists who want to build a writing career that includes novels. I give them strategy and a process for writing a novel that shaves years off of their learning curves, and helps them become finishers.
What they end up with is a completed first draft that’s a revision and edit away from being publishable.
Sound like something you’d be into?
