Several of you commented last night about my zero word counts and how it feels like you have to write every day in order to have a career. Let’s talk about this. I can speak on this topic with a lot of authority because, well…you all know exactly how much I used to do on a daily basis.
First things first, your family comes before anything else. If you have small children (or big children for that matter) and they need something, take care of them. Same with your spouse, aging parents, relatives, and so on. Your children will only be in the house so many years (hopefully!!!!) and you only have your parents and grandparents for so long.
Second, your day job also takes priority. Why? Because if you’re a new writer who is paying out of pocket for producing your books, if you don’t have a day job, you can’t afford to publish at the quality readers expect. Once you have more books, this changes of course, but I imagine that many of you are still making investments into your writing business with your own money, and you need a day job to pay the bills too. If you hate your day job, find another day job.
I’m now an executive at a global insurance company, yet here I am still writing books. There are a lot of days when work makes bigger demands of me than the regular 9-5. That’s ok. I have a very high tolerance level when it comes to this kind of thing. I thrive under pressure. My path is not for the faint of heart.
If that’s not you and you can leave your work at work, then do that.
Third, you don’t have to write every day to have a career as a writer. I’ve written almost 60 books at this point, and I didn’t get here by writing every day.
Sometimes I had family obligations or work obligations or law school or something else. I definitely didn’t write every day. Many weeks I did, but there were some weeks and months where I didn’t write at all. Or, I’d eke out 100 word days. Yet I still managed to write 60 books and make pretty good money with my writing. With a family, demanding job, law school, and more. The key is that I always kept at it even if I failed some days.
I never get upset or worried if I don’t write on a certain day. Any and all deadlines in this business are self made. The only exception is if you have a contract which doesn’t apply to most of you.
So many writers beat themselves up because of zero word days. Take that energy and focus it on whatever made you miss because that’s where your attention should be ANYWAY…then pick yourself back up and try again.
(And no, I don’t care who tries to convince you—NaNoWriMo is not a critical deadline. No one will die if you don’t write a 50K book in November. Use challenges like NaNo to inspire you, but they aren’t worth it if you stress yourself out. In all the public challenges I have done, I’ve had tons of fun whether I succeeded or failed. Big difference.)
Don’t get me wrong: I’m not saying that you should never write, or that you should be lazy or find excuses not to write. You all know that I believe the exact opposite, and I hopefully have led by example.
This is why I’m such an advocate for writing on your phone or dictating. Sometimes that can mean the difference between a zero day and a productive day. You can read through my prior posts and see how much it made a difference for me. Those “little” days add up in a big way at the end of the year.
(I wrote this post on my phone, by the way).
Be intentional about your writing. Write as much as you can when you can, and remember the law of averages. Even if you miss a few days or weeks, you’ll more than likely have word count days that even out your yearly word count.
If you never thought about your yearly word count, then you should. A career equals many years, hopefully decades if you’re young enough. Some years you’ll be down. Some years you’ll be up. In 2017 I wrote 12 books, and 9 of those were novels, which is insane. Last year I did 10 books, mostly nonfiction but equally crazy. In 2018 I only did 5 books. This year will probably be closer to 5-8. Take advantage of the good years and good times and wait out the worse ones. Despite what you think, no one’s watching, and no one cares except you. I find that freeing.
Sure, it’s true that if you write every single day without fail you will write more books and (maybe) even make more money. But personally, I’d rather write as much as I can (with zero days from time to time) if it means I’m balanced in all areas of my life instead of writing every day (by hook or by crook) and burning out. Life happens, man. It just does. Even with the best plans and organization, you’re going to get knocked down. Just roll with it.
I’ve been a published author for almost a decade, folks, and I’ve met a lot of indies…I don’t know any who can sustain a breakneck pace for very long without burning out. Not a single one.
There are people in the community who believe in writing every day without fail, and if that works for them, fine, but that doesn’t mean YOU have to do it. Sure, aspire to it but don’t be angry if you fail at it.
“But Michael! If I take too long between publishing books, readers will forget about me!!!!!!”
Do you think anyone forgot about George R.R. Martin between Game of Throne books? If he can get away with taking two decades to write GoT, then you can get away with whatever your issue is. Build your email list and your community, keep in touch with your fans (like I’m doing right now), and stay diligent.
“But Michael! If I don’t publish often, the algorithms will send my first books to hell!!!”
So be it. Again, as someone who has been doing this for almost a decade with a lot of books and royalties to show for it, I can tell you that a book isn’t worth sacrificing other areas in your life for.
Your writing will always be there. That’s part of its appeal. It’s something you can always escape to and turn to in hard times.
Your writing will always be there. That’s not necessarily true about your spouse, children, or your health.
We aren’t immune to the influence of hustle culture in the indie community. Don’t let someone talk you into doing anything that doesn’t work best for you. Anyone can talk a good hustle game, but at the end of the day, you’re the one that has to live your career.
Okay, rant over…
Anyhoo, hopefully this helps some of you.
And for it’s worth, I wrote 0 words today.
