One of the most common and tedious things in the writer community. A common thing in the creative community as well. If you don’t have a sum of money or under the care of somebody that can maintain you financially, then probably you work and write. Still, if you are creating for somebody else, advertising agency, marketing, promotions, and/or other you still are working. You get physically and mentally tired and probably you won’t be 100% up to for writing and creating.
Can it be done? Hell yeah! It can be done. It is done throughout the whole world. Just name any place and there would be at least somebody going through more or less the same as you. Maybe in a worse place than you. If you have read a couple of my previous posts, you’ll know I work full-time, have 2 daughters and four dogs and I’m still writing. And to this day we are still recuperating after Hurricane Maria.
So what can you do? Same as what you do with your work or anything in life. Planning. People who tend to outline more maybe will feel more comfortable with this. People who tend to write on the spot can still benefit and/or carry a small notebook and write whenever you get a chance. A minute. 10 minutes. 500 words. Whatever time or words that can be put to your writing will get you a step closer to your goal.
One advice I could give to young kids that haven’t gone to college yet and want to pursue writing. Write even if you feel it is no good. Your craft will get better with time. The study, learn, practice until you become an expert. Once a college or after high school starts, there will be so many distractions, including but not limited to financial distractions. College costs a lot of money, cars, rent, food, somewhat of social life will require money.
Sometimes after work, you won’t feel like you want to sit down and write. Of course, your co-worker can’t stop talking at the latest episode on Netflix’s. A new hip burger place opened up. Your significant other wants a date. It is no secret that today we work more. Get paid less. Pay things at a higher price when they are done with cheaper materials. It can be debatable but that will be another subject.
On job and writing, your work should be your main focus until you know you can write or your own and be financially stable. Writing is not a race, so don’t stress out. The other thing is that maybe you want to continue working and writing for the rest of your life. Maybe you just want another income. In this case, you have set what you want, so now it is up to you to do both and be your best on both. In the end you would do what is best for you. You would do what truly makes you happy.
If you need information on what to do once you finish your book, go to the steps towards self-publishing so you can move to the next step. One thing mentioned in that post is about Create Space. Be aware that just recently Create Space space is no more just KDP. So be sure to check more information on PODs and do what is best for you.