What would you do if you could make writing your own stories, creating your own characters, and bringing your own ideas to life the way you like? Sounds like a dream, right? Well, it’s not, because it’s a daily reality for many of us. We write for ourselves, but the thing is, we can’t always put our writing first. Sometimes we have to take a step back and prioritize what’s important to us.
Here are some of the things that you need to do to make writing your day job a blissful experience:
Know How To Market Yourself
This is something that you need to do whether you choose to write for fun or for money. Even if you decide to do this as a hobby, you need to find a way to get yourself out there and let people know what you’re doing. You can’t rely on luck or the whims of fate when it comes to gaining credibility as a writer. You need to consistently put your best foot forward and make smart choices about how to position yourself in order to succeed.
Do Your Research
There are many things that you can do to improve your chances of becoming a successful writer, but none of these things will matter if you don’t know the first thing about your enemy. This is especially important if you want to write for money, because you need to choose your words carefully and use the right ones in order to ensure that your writing expresses your ideas clearly and concisely. Another important thing to do is to look into the market and find out what is already out there. Researching the competition is essential in order to know what you’re up against and how to beat your opponents. You also need to look for the weak areas in their stories, and target your writing towards resolving those issues. Weak areas in a story give the author something to work towards, so you can use this to your advantage. You don’t want to be the author with the weakest story, because it’ll come up when someone does a Google search on your name, and it won’t end well for you. Don’t be afraid to look for the good and the bad in your results, and make a list of everything that you discover. This will help you discover things that you may not have known, and it will assist you in furthering your understanding of the industry. You can also use this to assist you in deciding what type of story you want to write. Look at everything that you’ve discovered, and choose the story that you think will be the most interesting to your audience. The more you know, the better.
Join A Society
You can have the best of both worlds by combining being a member of a society with being a writer. Many literary societies put out publications that are open to the public, so if you’re looking to make some money off your book, this is a good way to go about it. You can take part in the publication of a short story, novel, or even play, and at the same time, be a member of a professional society. The two worlds can come together, and if you do this, you’ll have a significant advantage over other writers because of all the knowledge that you have at your fingertips. It’s a win-win situation, and it’s something that you should seriously consider doing if you want to see your writing succeed.
Practice
Writers must practice in order to get good at writing, just like any other skill. You don’t magically become good at writing just because you went to college or wrote for fun for a few years, so don’t get discouraged if you don’t write anything worthwhile at first. This is a very common issue, and it takes some time to develop one’s skills. Start small–write a short story for your local newspaper or magazine, or edit an essay that someone else has wrote. Once you’ve proven to yourself that you can do this, move up to something bigger. Practice makes perfect, as they say, and if you keep practicing, you’ll figure it out.
Be Confident
The more confident you are, the better. You’re writing for yourself, so you have nothing to lose by being as passionate as you want to be. If you’re not comfortable putting yourself out there, then you should probably reconsider doing this, as honest self-expression is something that will always make a story better. Even if there are a lot of negative things said about you, it doesn’t matter–your opinion doesn’t matter. It’s the person reading your story that will matter, and you’ll have the opportunity to show them new things. This is your story to tell, and the only person whose opinion you need to worry about is your own.
Have A Plan
Writing is not a sprint, it’s a marathon. You’re going to put in the hours, day after day, and it’ll be up to you to make sure that you don’t lose steam along the way. You might want to set some time aside every week to just write, and not worry about whether or not what you’re writing is any good. This could be beneficial, especially if you want to create fiction. If you set aside time to write each week, but you don’t write anything, this could be discouraging. It’s important to have a plan, so that you know where you’re headed, and there’s no sudden stops along the way. This should help you keep your focus, and keep working towards the end goal. Sometimes it’s hard to know where to start, and setting aside time to plan can give you a good idea of what needs to be done and when it needs to be done. The more you do, the more you’ll get done, and this is certainly true when it comes to writing. Have a plan, and keep moving forward.
Making writing your day job a blissful experience is something that you can definitely achieve. With a little bit of planning, research, and hard work, you’ll be able to enjoy the process and see the rewards at the end. Just remember to put your best foot forward, and you’ll be able to get there faster than you know it.