Full Time Or Part Time Writer - Realms Of Forgotten Worlds

This is a bigger question than some of us realize – time is money. So how serious is your writing project? This should be your very first question, and then you might be able to decide on the amount of time you want to invest in it.

Now to the part that no one wants to talk about. The truth is, there are going to be sacrifices, even if you have an endless supply of money to dedicate to your project. So if it’s serious, then you need to get focused on how you are going to stay motivated, because there are obstacles. That’s just a fact.

Family can be counted as a factor of resistance, simply because they do demand time. Not all families understand a writing project, so this could be a bigger obstacle for some than for others.

The sacrifice here would be the time taken away, from either family or project.

Sacrifices… It sounds pretty drastic to put it that way, but most writers would more than likely agree that this is true, unless they are single, and even then it would be hard to disagree. We have to take into account even the smallest factors, like communication for example. I have family that will see this post right after it’s published, and they’ll probably be nodding their heads in agreement. It’s either time for your project or time to be social. One or the other will end up losing. Having a clearly defined schedule would help.

At this point some may be wondering what they would be willing to sacrifice, in order to be a writer. That of course, would depend on you.

There are 2 types of writers that I know of so far. There are the ones that write for money, and there are those who write because it’s their dream.

Fame is kind of the same as money, so I’ll just leave it at that. This brings up a major fork in the road though, as to what kind of book will be produced. 2 different types of books with different demands.

Money Writer

As for the type of product a money writer makes… They usually write shorter books. Logical to get the best earnings for your effort, right? They usually have everything all set up from the beginning, so selling won’t be that hard. They usually keep their day job, unless money isn’t an issue. As for being social – money writers may have a much better shot at that.

Dream Writer

Dream writers… This side includes me. Money isn’t a factor, and the time sacrificed is just another unfortunate discovery, after starting one historic day. Personally, I thought it would be like any other job, but I was wrong. The story took much longer to complete and had many obstacles that I never dreamed of having. Despite all of that, it remained my dream project, so that was what kept me going, and going, and going – until I crawled over the finish line.

Since this is a dream type project, you may find you spent too much time on it and find your marriage on it’s last legs once your book is finally complete and registered. But that wouldn’t be anything new – divorced writers are everywhere. Oh well, that the price emotionally inspired writers pay for their dreams.

(Forget about time and money attitude.)

Dream writers have longer stories than most, and have the tendency to re-edit their work many, many times throughout the writing process. There’s a lot on the table, though it’s not about the money, it’s the fear of criticism. This is your dream, so you don’t want anyone criticizing that. The thought of someone changing what you wrote may make you cringe.

Don’t forget about money too fast though. For me it didn’t register at all until there was less of it than before, which was kind of unfortunate, because that made things harder than expected. To be truthful, I don’t relate money to motivation at all, but after that experience, I found that it does makes a Big difference – especially when there is none of it. lol My advice… Whether you’re writing for money or not, you’ll want to have a reserve – just in case.

The idea of full time writing, if you’re someone persuing their dream project, may seem like the best way to go. To determine this though, we have to do a little bit of analyzing. First of all, we have to be certain of when we feel more inspired to write.

Knowing the Time is critical, and shouldn’t be taken lightly.

We can all write something at any time during the day, or night, but when is it that you are at your inspirational peak, because that is when you want to be producing – not before. For some, this may be very, very early in the morning, which would put you in the category with many other professional writers. You might still be able to keep your dayjob like that. In my case, inspiration surges drastically after 10pm, and can go on until 3 or 4 in the morning, so that makes things very, very interesting. The next day at work, to say it in a nice way, turned out to be quite stressful. This made me a full time writer almost immediately.

All this may seem hard, but let’s see if we can cut any corners.

Let’s talk about skills. This is something that may speed up the writing effort considerably, no doubt about it. So far I’ve used many of my skills to finish projects, and even some I never ever imagined using. Apparently I learned how to make a web page, which ironically wasn’t by choice, but because I paid someone who couldn’t deliver. lol That’s another story though, but I can say that it did cost me some time.

Anyways.. everyone is different, so abilities vary, and if you’re determined, you’ll find a way to use them and complete your project.

The following are some skills that I found to be invaluable during my writing project and are highly recommended:

Computer Skills

This one is a tough cookie because it has so many areas. Here we can include the basic programs that you have and your ability to use them. Including how quick are you switching from one to another, and if you can share files and file types between totally different programs. Backing Stuff Up Is Included And Is Essential.

Basic Computer Repair Skills

This one isn’t that easy either. A computer tech isn’t cheap, so it’s a good idea knowing how to format and maintain your computer. That might even implicate changing out a power supply, but that’s not so hard in most cases.

The Ability to Listen

It’s not a mistake… Not having the abilty to listen to your family while you work is a sure way of making your project much more complicated. We want to avoid divorces and all of that, so Listening is definitely a good ability to have.

The Ability To Be Alone

Here’s one that may or not be true; it just depends. In the case of Sci-Fi, complete worlds are created, so being alone while you develop is in fact a very strong requirement. In the case of Non-Fiction – you could probably be in a party and still be able to finish your book.

The key here would be to plan for the worst. So far this strategy has worked wonders for me, so I feel confident recommending this type of planning to anyone thinking about writing their first book.

Don’t make the mistake of thinking that you’ll magically get saved by some publisher, because more than likely, it’s not going to happen.

Always plan to Self Publish, but if you do get recruited, you won’t be disappointed.

If you’re still unsure about what to do, there’s plenty of help out there. I’m on a wonderful group called Quora, full of all kinds of people, just eager to help.