Be a writer.
No, really.
Be a writer with a million projects happening simultaneously. I have a novel that is nearly finished (that 2 agents want to see! You'd think that would light a fire under my ass ... but keep reading), a non-fiction book due at the end of the year, a 10-12K draft of a novelette/novella/not sure yet due in a week or two for an upcoming trip to the Milford Writers' Conference, a novella series project I have been wanting to start for over a year (and have done a bit of research for), a short story collection I'd love to get back to. And maybe something else I'm not remembering?
Be a new small business owner who is constantly riding social media to get the word out. (Social Media is *exhausting*) The fiery death of twitter means everyone from the book world has gone scrambling into various other platforms, so anything posted needs to get shared everywhere, in various styles, with different character limits, etc. I can pre-schedule some things, but not all things. And then, checking in on the stats is sort of soul killing. But I have to keep on trying.
Oh, and be a new small business owner who has to constantly plan new content (videos, worksheets, the text copy to go with it all, the images needed that match the branding, etc.), plan the associated social media posts, learn new software, film and edit videos, build the animations (intros and outros, etc.) for said videos, learn another platform to host the videos and the business, build all of the related structure around each new bit of content/course. And on and on.
Take every opportunity that comes your way so that you can keep your name/books/brand/business out there, on people's minds or just adjacent. I recently did an online workshop and will be doing another in less than a month. I did an in-person small SFF convention to hand-sell books, and I'll be doing another one in October. Where I'll also be running an in-person workshop. Oh, and giving a talk at a local WI the following day.
I am letting myself (HA! LETTING MYSELF!) sliiiiide into mid-Sept when I go to Fantasycon and Milford all in 9 days before I shift to finding some paid work-work. But all that stuff I just listed? Will STILL be here, on my plate, to be done. Somehow I have to fit in working to be able to eat and pay rent.
So, yeah, be a writer--a writer like 99.9% of all writers, who don't make 6+figures on a book deal--to find out how to be constantly busy while being (officially) unemployed.
No, really.
Be a writer with a million projects happening simultaneously. I have a novel that is nearly finished (that 2 agents want to see! You'd think that would light a fire under my ass ... but keep reading), a non-fiction book due at the end of the year, a 10-12K draft of a novelette/novella/not sure yet due in a week or two for an upcoming trip to the Milford Writers' Conference, a novella series project I have been wanting to start for over a year (and have done a bit of research for), a short story collection I'd love to get back to. And maybe something else I'm not remembering?
Be a new small business owner who is constantly riding social media to get the word out. (Social Media is *exhausting*) The fiery death of twitter means everyone from the book world has gone scrambling into various other platforms, so anything posted needs to get shared everywhere, in various styles, with different character limits, etc. I can pre-schedule some things, but not all things. And then, checking in on the stats is sort of soul killing. But I have to keep on trying.
Oh, and be a new small business owner who has to constantly plan new content (videos, worksheets, the text copy to go with it all, the images needed that match the branding, etc.), plan the associated social media posts, learn new software, film and edit videos, build the animations (intros and outros, etc.) for said videos, learn another platform to host the videos and the business, build all of the related structure around each new bit of content/course. And on and on.
Take every opportunity that comes your way so that you can keep your name/books/brand/business out there, on people's minds or just adjacent. I recently did an online workshop and will be doing another in less than a month. I did an in-person small SFF convention to hand-sell books, and I'll be doing another one in October. Where I'll also be running an in-person workshop. Oh, and giving a talk at a local WI the following day.
I am letting myself (HA! LETTING MYSELF!) sliiiiide into mid-Sept when I go to Fantasycon and Milford all in 9 days before I shift to finding some paid work-work. But all that stuff I just listed? Will STILL be here, on my plate, to be done. Somehow I have to fit in working to be able to eat and pay rent.
So, yeah, be a writer--a writer like 99.9% of all writers, who don't make 6+figures on a book deal--to find out how to be constantly busy while being (officially) unemployed.
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