I’ve been having to make some difficult choices recently about what I want to do.
Most people seem to think that simply by virtue of getting a book into print, I’m somehow now lolling and cavorting in acres of cash. Not so. The common wisdom among selling writers is that about 10% of all romance novelists are making an actual living from their writing, and of that 10%, only 10% of them are lolling and cavorting in acres of cash.
Given that I’m very new, and that it takes about 5 years of continuous writing and selling to become one of those 10% making a living, you can imagine that I’m now thinking about how the dSO and I are going to survive for the next few years.
But more than that, I don’t necessarily want to spend every waking moment writing novels in order to achieve that living. It’s a real temptation for me because I can lose myself in my perfectionistic workaholism, but that can be extremely dangerous for me — I pile too much work on myself, I expect too much, I agree to deadlines I’ll have to struggle to meet, etc.
As I’ve tried to re-center myself, partly with mindfulness, partly with hanging out with like-minded people who have a similar spiritual focus, I’ve realized that I create all of my problems all by myself. If there’s no one knocking on my door asking me to do something for them, I’ll go out and find someone I can “help.” All with the best intentions, of course. And in some cases, it has turned out fun and productive, like when I coded the HBA Judge a Book By Its Cover contest. I can learn a ton of stuff and have fun doing it, which is my favorite activity.
But sometimes I find my brain haring off in different directions, looking for something to add to my work plate:
- Increase my hosting business by partnering with various web designers.
- Create cool admin pages for the HBA web site.
- Develop applications for my hobby web sites.
- Write articles for my chapter newsletters.
- Go camping for the summer in Fergus.
- Be a camp hosty at a National Park for a couple of months.
- Participate more on the eHarlequin boards.
- Judge local contests.
- Keep up with this blog.
- Keep up with my hobby blogs.
- Etc.
It’s not that I don’t enjoy these activities — it’s that you put these activities together with my career work, like writing the Athena Force book — I’ve suddenly piled so much work on that I can’t possibly achieve it all.
So last week, I started turning down things. I turned down an opportunity to judge a contest. I chose not to attend a local RWA chapter meeting that I normally feel obligated to attend. The dSO and I discussed my not going camping with him this summer so I can concentrate on writing the AF book.
It’s just a start, and I don’t anticipate huge life changes as a result of making just a few decisions like this, but at the same time it feels very right. Strip everything down to basics. Concentrate on a few things rather than scattering my brain over many things.
I think having activities other than writing helps your writing.
When I got seriously into baking, I was worried that it’d eat into my already limited writing time. It has, but in a good way.
Sometimes, doing too much of something can give you tunnel vision.
That’s a good point, May.
Normally my issue is doing too many very different things, though. I like to do all sorts of things — play with the server, write PHP code, camp, goof around with web sites, and write — so that I actively seek opportunities to do new projects.
Sometimes I’d be better served remembering what my priorities are…. Or else change my priorities to fit my actual behavior!