BALANCE THE CREATIVE AND BUSINESS SIDES OF THE WRITING LIFE by Pamela White
Before I began making real money as a writer, I romanticized about long quiet days writing novels, short stories and essays. Sure, I had been hired to write news stories for a small newspaper but that was just a temporary stop on my amazing future career.
Once I was able to spend my quiet time each day writing essays and short stories, I found that it was easy to place them but not easy to get paid for them. If there was a payment for the short mysteries that I worked on each day, it would hover around $25 per story.
That small build-up of a reputation and income was okay at that time while I worked part-time and my children were still small. As they grew (and the cost of their sports and dance needs grew) I went back to writing news stories and magazine articles. But this time around I didn't look at it as a side line. Instead, it was a serious source of income.
My change of mind (and heart) created a quandary. Was I a writer or was I running an income-producing business?
I was both, actually, and I soon learned that I could feel joy in my creations while earning a good income by writing articles, press releases, and web content for others.
We often feel that creative types like ourselves simply cannot waste time on business matters. The truth is that we cannot afford NOT to devote time to planning our writing business if we want both financial success and personal joy.
Project the income you need or want each year. Divide that by 12 months and you will have enough information that will help you plot your writing work. If you need $30,000 net each year, then you would plan to earn $2500 net per month. That could mean two magazine articles plus 5 press releases plus a royalty check for the how-to book you wrote last year.
Knowing how much income you need and how to earn it with your writing talent allows you to set aside the time to do the creative work that feeds your spirit.
Here are some other ways to keep your enthusiasm up with the assignments and books you work on that are not exactly your idea of creative writing:
* Research magazines that use essays as end pieces or buy creative non-fiction pieces that combine the high pay rates with the opportunity to do what you love.
* Consistently deliver your best work whether you are writing about the dedication of the local library or plotting your beloved mystery short stories. Editors reward dependable, good writers with more assignments which mean less time spend pitching article ideas. It also means that once you have their trust, you may be able to be more creative in the way you handle the topic.
* While you may find that focusing your writing in one or two niche markets, like waste management or computer software, is financially rewarding, try to find a niche or two that gets your blood pumping – like wine or golf.
We may survive on our writing assignments, but we thrive on writing the stories that define, move and satisfy us. Work to find a balance between the income-producing winners and the work that you love, and you will have it all.
© Pamela White, 2008
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About the author: Pamela White publishes Food Writing, the free ezine for food writers from her website: www.food-writing.com and The Writing Parent from www.thewritingparent.net . She develops writing and food writing courses, and her book, Make Money as a Food Writer in Six Lessons, is available at Amazon.com |