The business of being a writer

Not long after I’d graduated from college, I had a phone conversation with a longtime friend. He was heading to med school and was on a path that would lead to his becoming a prominent surgeon. Ever since we were kids, he talked about how he intended to become a doctor. Even as he earned an engineering degree in college, he knew his destiny lay in medicine, and he really believed he would become a surgeon. It’s what he always wanted to do.

I was also certain I wanted to become a writer, and I really believed I would be a novelist. My friend was amazed at my goals of becoming an author. To him, it would be more sensible for me to pursue a career that would be more lucrative and enable me to write on the side. And sometimes when I look at my bank statements and bills, I wonder if perhaps he was right. But that night, after he asked how long it would take to write a novel, I said, “Well, if I just write a page a day, by the end of the year, I’d have a novel.”

The logic of the statement -- which was just off the top of my head -- surprised me then, and to a degree it still does. The answer encapsulated much of what would lead me to become the writer I am today; it’s my job. I write most every day. You can say it’s a discipline, but I just look at it as what I do. And when I’m not physically writing or typing, I’m often thinking about characters and story arcs.

Frankly, it took me a long time to finish my first novel, which I trunked years ago (though trunks can be opened…) In the years out of college, I spent most of my writing time on short stories, and the novels I began quickly died on the vine. Back then, I spent more time writing songs than novels.

I’m not working on a novel at the moment, either. And if I’m honest with myself, I would say I haven’t worked on one of my own seriously since I created Elephant’s Bookshelf Press. I have only so much time away from work, and I spend what I can with my wife and children. Anyone who’s seen me on the train heading home knows I’m always on my laptop. That’s where the bulk of EBP takes shape: reading stories, editing novels, putting together media packages, recording and analyzing data, and all the other administrative responsibilities I need to address to maintain and build my little publishing house.

To me, being a professional writer starts with those two things: dedicating yourself to your craft – writing every day – and taking a business approach to your craft. It’s your job, after all.

Over the years, I’ve also learned the power of planning. I’m a believer in setting goals – even New Year’s resolutions – and reviewing the progress I make regularly. It may seem like a simple thing, but I’d be lost without a calendar. Yet, even though I write my plans down and review them, I’m still shocked when the fourth quarter of the year begins and I’m still scrambling to finish things that are weeks behind.

Recently, my friend Mindy McGinnis posted a blog about her schedule and all the work that goes into a typical day in her writing career. And this is someone who has a half-dozen novels published, including the recently released This Darkness Mine. It just goes to show that, no matter how much “success” we experience in our writing careers, life is still packed with a lot of unexciting but necessary busy work.

Now that we’re in the home stretch of 2017, what are you doing to prepare your writing business for 2018? Have you found any answers or solutions to the problems that have plagued you this year? What do you need in the new year to accomplish your goals? Maybe we can find a way to help each other. One of my goals in 2018 is to share more. (A goal my daughters have suggested.) I’m looking forward to sharing with you.