What I’ve Learned (So far)
The absolute biggest lesson I've learned so far on this journey is that you have to go at your own pace. It's so easy to get caught up in comparing yourself to others, and it will drive you nuts.
My writing journey as a wife, as a mother of two, as a person with a full-time job, as a person running a home with 45 animals, is going to look different than someone who is single, someone without kids, someone who is already a full-time author, and so on.
That's okay.
I have to remind myself of this almost daily. Obviously, I'd have more time without any distractions, but my chaos is everything I love most about my life. My children. My husband. My pets. My travels. Writing is the part of me that is just me. I don't share my writing process with anyone or anything else. Writing reminds me that I'm a woman separate from all of my roles. That I am an individual with dreams and goals even when I spend all day making snacks and wiping noses. I adore being a mother and a wife, but I love that writing has enabled me to keep myself in tact. I will raise my children, love them and their dad, without losing who I am, and I have writing to thank for that.
Another thing I've learned is write. Write all the time. I'm typing this out on my phone with my son asleep next to me. You can't edit a blank page. It's easy for me to find a million reasons not to write, but once I get going, it's extremely hard to stop. I'm consistently looking for moments where I can write, be it on my laptop, my phone, or on Otter- the speak to text app. I have spent a lot of time not writing. I've spent a lot of time not promoting my books. I know that if I expect to be successful, I have to put in the work.
We can say that it’s easier said than done, and somedays that is true. Mostly I’ve found that it’s less about me having the time and more about me making writing a priority. I’ve talked before about choosing to write when you have those chunks of time to fill. There are always moments, sometimes it’s two minutes and somedays it’s six hours. I used to use most of that time to read or watch shows. Now, I’m constantly telling myself to write. It goes beyond having ideas. Writing with the purpose of publishing is a choice, a job.
Work on building a community. I'm still working on this. Find other authors and support them. Interact with them. Learn from them. We live in a pretty incredible world when it comes to online possibilities. My issue at first was following people without thinking about the professional angle. I don’t think that your author relationships should be looked at soley to advance your career. I was guilty of doing this in the beginning. How can they help me? That’s not the way to view those relationships. I’ve had a lot more fun, and learned more by treating these relationships more organically, more like friendships. I also started following and listening to authors because I valued what they were saying even though I had no intention of asking them to collaborate with me. I watch Sarah Sutton on YouTube every week. We’ve worked together in the past, but her genre is YA romance and there’s not much overlap in our books besides a romantic aspect. However, I love her vlogs. I enjoy keeping up with her work and learn a lot from watching her journey. JF Penn is another one. Her podcast is incredible. She has so much insight and is very in tune with the trends and the up and coming things in the writing world. I’d probably pass out if she ever asked to interview me, haha, but that’s not why I listen to her podcast. I encourage you to shift your mindset from what can they do for me, to what can I learn from them.
Don't be afraid to try things. Try Kindle Unlimited. Try going wide. If you're just starting out, don't shy away from trial and error. What works may surprise you. I am still figuring out what works for me. Audiobooks are the next thing I want to try. I’m not afraid to fail. Not everything you do is going to work, but some of the stuff you do will work and you’ll sell books.
If there are areas where you can get help, get the help. This year I hired a social media person and it is by far one of the best decisions I’ve made. I struggle with consistency on social media and this ensures that my Instagram and Facebook have new content a couple of times a week. I love that I don’t have to think about social media content. I still post things, but I can post them randomly and when I want to and my social media person can focus on the actual marketing and growing my platform. I know this will not be in everyone’s budget, but I still think it’s important to recognize the areas in which you struggle because eventually you may have the financial resources to hire help. If not, at the very least, you can focus on researching and improving that area.
