When I was first starting to write, I purchased a how-to book about the craft of writing, which included a statement that said writers spend their entire lives in basements, writing. I’m sure the idea behind this thought was, if the idea of writing all the time doesn’t appeal to you, don’t be a writer. When I read it however, I was not discouraged but instead thrilled, thinking, writers get to spend their entire lives doing nothing but writing? Sign me up! Little did I know as I embarked upon my writer’s journey that in an ever-changing industry this once-true statement no longer applied to today’s writer.
Attending a writer’s conference several year’s ago, I was struck by a statement made by one of my fellow authors, saying that for a writer to be successful, she should expect to spend 50% of her time writing, and 50% of her time marketing. 50%? I screamed, in my mind. Carving out writing time was difficult enough to do, around working a full time job, and trying to juggle the other responsibilities of life. How was I to continue writing at the same pace, improve upon my pace, when I had to cut my precious writing time in half? More recently, a fellow author said that writers should expect to spend 20% of their time writing, and 80% of it marketing. Though she offers some great suggestions to writers, to help writers keep up the quality of their work while writing at the brisk pace expected of a successful author in today’s world, I ask myself how great can the quality of any author’s work be, when forced to squeeze their passion into such a small percentage of their day?
I once had a corporate job in which my responsibilities were so limited, there were many days in which I had nothing to do at all. Staring at the wall for eight hours a day, stories flooded my mind as they never have. Though I knew I was risking my job, I was driven to take advantage of the gift I’d been given and with no access to the internet (aka, no distractions) I wrote faster than I ever have, and enjoyed it more, too. There were so many things I disliked about that job and yet with hours to write every morning, a lunch break filled with a glorious opportunity to do nothing but read, and hours more to write every afternoon, I remember that time as one of the greatest in my life. I wish I had the opportunity to write as much as I’d like to. What a joy that would be!
