6 Years Writing
.... and I forgot my own writing anniversary.
But that's ok. I don't think that's a bad thing. I've stopped thinking about writing milestones, to be honest. Writing is now something that I do as part of my day, no questions asked.
This is interesting because it's the same for music, I've found. When first learning a musical instrument we are very goal-oriented. I'm on "the next" piece in a book. But if you tough it out long enough you lose track of how many pieces you know and it just becomes a thing.
Over the past two writing years I've noticed that I've become less profit-driven with writing. Getting more sales was highly motivating to me when I first started on this publishing journey. But I noticed that my mindset has switched from needing to get sales to "Oh, look at that I got a sale. How nice."
My mindset right now I think would have frustrated freshly-published me a few years ago. But something I've realized from existing with my husband is that I put a lot of arbitrary pressure on myself. I give all goal/deadlines equal priority in my brain whether it's an important project that needs doing or something as simple as a dinner reservation. My husband is the opposite. He has absolutely no sense of schedules or deadlines whatsoever.
But as we've learned to have middle ground with each other it has taught me to really think about which of my priorities actually need deadlines. For me, writing needs deadlines or I would forget to do it. So I do like that I put enough pressure on myself to doggedly continue writing every day. But something that I have disliked about my publishing schedule is that it has made it difficult to keep up with other writing projects such as blogging. And I enjoy blogging.
So, in a nutshell, I think the lesson I have learned as I wrap up year six is to write but write what I enjoy. This means finding middle ground. I keep to a writing schedule and I keep track of my royalties as a business should but, in the end, this is still a hobby for me. So splitting my writing time between beta reading or blogging or fiction is not a failure. It's what makes it fun.
But that's ok. I don't think that's a bad thing. I've stopped thinking about writing milestones, to be honest. Writing is now something that I do as part of my day, no questions asked.
This is interesting because it's the same for music, I've found. When first learning a musical instrument we are very goal-oriented. I'm on "the next" piece in a book. But if you tough it out long enough you lose track of how many pieces you know and it just becomes a thing.
Over the past two writing years I've noticed that I've become less profit-driven with writing. Getting more sales was highly motivating to me when I first started on this publishing journey. But I noticed that my mindset has switched from needing to get sales to "Oh, look at that I got a sale. How nice."
My mindset right now I think would have frustrated freshly-published me a few years ago. But something I've realized from existing with my husband is that I put a lot of arbitrary pressure on myself. I give all goal/deadlines equal priority in my brain whether it's an important project that needs doing or something as simple as a dinner reservation. My husband is the opposite. He has absolutely no sense of schedules or deadlines whatsoever.
But as we've learned to have middle ground with each other it has taught me to really think about which of my priorities actually need deadlines. For me, writing needs deadlines or I would forget to do it. So I do like that I put enough pressure on myself to doggedly continue writing every day. But something that I have disliked about my publishing schedule is that it has made it difficult to keep up with other writing projects such as blogging. And I enjoy blogging.
So, in a nutshell, I think the lesson I have learned as I wrap up year six is to write but write what I enjoy. This means finding middle ground. I keep to a writing schedule and I keep track of my royalties as a business should but, in the end, this is still a hobby for me. So splitting my writing time between beta reading or blogging or fiction is not a failure. It's what makes it fun.
Comments
Post a Comment