Last year, I released a course called “Writing in Hard Times.” It teaches you how to plan, navigate, and beat almost any bad issue life will throw your way as a writer. I gave it away to everyone as a pandemic special. To date it has zero sales and I haven’t made a dollar for it despite charging a rock bottom price. But enough about that—this post is not a promo.
But let me give you two reasons how shit can just change up on you without you knowing what happened.
Scenario #1: I was walking in my driveway a few weeks ago back when we still had snow on the ground. I slipped on a patch of black ice. I never even saw it. Next thing I knew I was flying like Superman down my driveway. Scraped my knee something awful and threw my back out of alignment, but I was fine, thank God.
That got me thinking about how strong my writing strategy is—heaven forbid I hurt myself really bad, broke an arm, or worse. I could still write because I can dictate. Not to mention have rainy day money set aside for painkillers, treatment and such.
Scenario #2: I was on a walk with my family tonight. My daughter screamed and I heard a crack. Next thing I know, an enormous tree branch lands right next to me, only a foot or so from my head…I would have even seen it. Probably would have broken my neck, or worse.
Anyway, this post is just a public service announcement that all writers get hurt and die.
Get health insurance if you can afford it.
Invest in tools that will help you write differently should you ever need to.
Hire an attorney to write a will. And determine your final medical decisions.
Get life insurance if you can afford it.
Plan what you’ll do if you stumble upon a windfall of sudden money from your books. Just because you’re a newbie or a “nobody” doesn’t mean you shouldn’t plan for the opposite to happen. So many careers end because people stumble into success and then drown in it. If you don’t believe me, just look at the lives of famous people. Or lottery winners.
Make contingency plans about what you would do if, I don’t know, you come home one day and your house is ransacked and a burglar has made off with your hard drive and all of your manuscripts on it. Would you have backups?
You can’t plan for everything, but the universe rewards people who at least TRY to take the dangers of seriously.
Disaster strikes in many ways, and it will do so at any time. The more prepared you are, the easier you will weather storms. That doesn’t mean you won’t get knocked down—you will. But you’ll get up much faster (many writers never get up at all. They quit because of their health or because they didn’t think ahead about the business).
Anyway, have a good night. And try not to get hit by a tree branch if you’re on a nice walk with your family. LOL
