Behind the Scenes Sunday

Business of Writing

Let’s take a peek at the cogs inside the machine and talk about why I write and how I write on Behind the Scenes Sunday! Today I’d like to talk about how I am attempting to use the business of being a writer to support my actual writing projects, such as teaching, participating in conferences, and Kickstarter.

I attended a fantastic writing conference early this year where presenters broke down the three ways most people support their writing.

The writing supports the writing. This means the income you receive from your creative writing projects is sufficient to support your basic needs including giving you time to do more creative writing. I think this is what your average joe still thinks of when they think of a “full-time author”. Truly, though, people who get to live this way are few and far between. The full-time job supports the writing. This means you have a separate, non-writing related full-time job that financial supports your creative writing pursuits. This isn’t for everyone — not everyone can balance the demands of what can essentially become two full-time jobs (if not more) plus the pressures of everyday life. But, for those who can make it work, this is often the most fiscally viable method of support.The business of writing supports the writing. This means you have writing-related work that supports your creative writing time. I.e. the business of being an author, hand-selling books, teaching about writing, making appearances at conventions, etc. etc., provides income that is sufficient to support your basic needs including giving you time to write.

Number 3 is where I am currently focusing my efforts. Through teaching writing courses, hand-selling books at in-person events, and investigating starting a Kickstarter and restarting my Patreon, I am looking at all the various ways I can make the business of writing support the act of writing. This mode of supporting your writing can be challenging: it’s keeping a lot of plates spinning while making sure you still have time to express yourself creatively. But I am really enjoying myself and finding more and more success doing this. I’m excited to see what the rest of 2024 has in store for both my creative writing and my writing business!

As always, if you’re interested in supporting me and my work, thank you: Hungry is the Night, my paranormal romance, is available on all major platforms, as are my classic murder mysteries with scifi twists, The Cadence Turing Mystery series!

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