Thursday, January 21, 2010

Working Full Time and Writing

This morning I read about a man who gave up his daytime job to write full time. With little money made from writing, he just up and quit. I felt admiration for this man, because I know it is hard to make a living from writing. It took a lot of courage for him to take that step.

I know of one author who has published six novels, some on bestseller lists, who keeps his part-time day job. He said his second income is necessary for him right now. Of course, I have no doubt he will quit his day job soon and give us more bestsellers.

I am one of the several who works full time while writing in the off hours of the day. Even though I have made a little money writing, I am not brave enough or ready to try and give writing full-time a try. Maybe if I win the lotto, or some rich relative dies and leaves me their millions (no chance of that, as I have no rich relatives).

With or without a job, sitting down and writing is what is important. I try to write at least an hour per day. My goal is to complete the second draft of my novel by April, need to be more disciplined. Two hours and/or 1000- 2000 words per day a will lead me down the road to completion. A little much for a girl who works full time? Maybe, considering I want to write some short stories and start submitting more.

I am a good writer, even though I am constantly learning. Discipline is the answer. In other words, I need to sit down and write more. Make more time, as it will not just come to me.

2 comments:

Kari said...

I hear you, there! I long to be able to just sit and write all day. Unfortunately, that doesn't pay the bills like my day job!

Susan Littlefield said...

Hi Kari,

Great to see you here! About ten years ago, I supported myself working 20-30 hours a week, which came out to five four hour days at first, then five six hour days. I had so much time to write. I miss those days!

The struggle now is finding that time to write. It's tough, but I love it so much I make time.

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