I wrote in my blog recently that everyone today, knows an author. I think this is an interesting phenomenon. But how many of you know even one full-time freelance writer/author—someone who has created a career as a writer or author? There still are not many of us. I do know a few. Most of their careers, however, stemmed from graphic design, web design or editing businesses.
It doesn’t matter how one comes into the writing/publishing profession. What I find interesting is how various career writers work it so they can stay in this profession and why they do it.
As some of you know, I’ve been writing for publication since 1973. That’s when I sent my first article to a national magazine and experienced the joy of being published. That’s when I became hooked on writing and on sharing my writing, my ideas, my knowledge, the results of my research, etc. with others. From the time I knew I wanted to write professionally, I wanted to write nonfiction articles for magazines.
My writing business has changed shape a few times over the years, as I became an author and then a publisher, a leader of an international publishers’/authors’ organization (SPAWN), a speaker on writing and publishing, a teacher, a book coach and an editor. I still marvel at how my career has evolved.
For 36 years, this is all I do (except for a brief period when I worked a full-time job alongside this career). My writing/publishing business has solely supported me for the last 25 years. While I take all of this for granted—I’m the one who created it, after all—others often marvel at the very idea of it. Not many people have the courage or the opportunity to establish a business doing what they love and to spend decades massaging that business into one that actually works.
I’m taking a break from my business this week. I’m leaving today for a fall color cruise along the East coast with a friend who encouraged me to write. I can name few people in my life who influenced, supported and/or encouraged me to pursue my dream. Some of them don’t have a clue about their role in my decisions and choices.
This friend, Kelly, and I met in junior high school. We’ve been best buds ever since—that’s a 50 year+ friendship. We continued our friendship even after we married and had children. And then her family moved to another state. We missed each other. With 3 small children to care for, she didn’t get out to meet people easily and her outlets were long letters to me. I gleefully reciprocated. For years, while she lived in Denver and I lived in CA, we wrote virtual books back and forth to one another sometimes every week. We also visited each other at least once during every year that she lived in Colorado.
How do I credit her with my career success? Those letters kept me writing—practicing my craft. Her response to my letters boosted my confidence level and helped me to establish a, “Yes I can” attitude.
So Kelly and I are off on an adventure together and I will be leaving my business behind. When I return it would be fun to hear from others who are operating full-time writing/publishing businesses and learn how they got started, what caused them to make the choices that they did and how it’s going for them. Maybe we’ll feature some guest bloggers. If you want to be on that list, speak up. Leave a comment here or email me at PLFry620@yahoo.com. I’ll be back to work on the 19th of October.
You will have a few new blogs to view while I’m gone. I wrote them and have someone else posting them for me.