A Writer’s Life: Baby Steps Towards Going Pro

It’s taken me a month to wrap my head around what’s next in my life. Up until now, it was a conventional job, or conventional university, full-time. And then came the realisation I needed a bit more time to recover from the experiences I had in my last work place. For now, I can have that more time, and, if I can get my writing to work, I can keep it.

But going full-time writer is harder than it sounds, that shift from having to prioritise a working day over your writing time more difficult than it seems, so it’s taken me three weeks to get my feet under me enough to start really working it out. The first few steps were wobbly.

I had to get a regular fitness routing going – basically, I’m sick of being sick because I’m not fit. That’s starting to consolidate itself into a regular hour of dedicated movement each day, consisting of one large chunk in the morning, and two smaller chunks later on. That’s taken two weeks, but it’s started to embed.

The next step was to give my writing and publishing dedicated work hours, just like I’d give a regular job, regular office hours. I started doing that, this week. What this means, for me, at least, is that I have to not let other (completely justifiable) things get in the way of eight hours of writing and publishing, each day. And by justifiable, I mean the housework, email, social media – all of which can be justifiable because they ‘need’ to be done.

It’s true, they *do* need to be done, but they don’t need to be done in my publishing and writing time—and that’s something I have to be disciplined about. That’s what we’re adding in to the routine, this week and next, while I catch up the outstanding parts of my publishing and blogging schedule, so I can settle in to what I need to do next.

The last three weeks have taught me that I need to do things a little at a time, introduce each new facet into the structure only after the last one’s firmly in place, and that it all takes time to embed. Apparently, the human system doesn’t take to sudden and total change very well, and the human operating it needs to realise that, and treat their equipment right. And that system includes the mind, the emotions, and the body, because they each impact on each other.

You want to stay well so you can write more? You want to be able to think straight, and dig a little more out from under that depression so you can write better? Look after yourself. Understand when you need a break, and when you can push it, just a little bit more, and take the time to work out your quirks. You’re a writer – that person with you in front of the desk is someone you’re going to be spending a lot of time with, so you might as well try to get along.

You’ll need to, if you’re going to succeed.