Is Writing a Real Job? by Lauralynn Elliott

This post is geared, not necessarily toward your progress in ROW80, but more toward what happens next. But, at the same time, the subject of the post could determine whether you decide to stick to your goals or give up. It has a lot to do about our attitude toward what we’re doing, but, in many cases, we let the attitude of others play way too large a part in what we do about those goals. I’ll start with a conversation I had with my husband.

 Me:  I need to go work on my book.

Hubby makes some smart remark, I can’t remember exactly what.

Me:  This is a part time job just like if I was working for someone else.

Hubby:  No, it’s not. It’s a hobby.

Me: What do you mean, it’s a hobby? It’s a job!

Hubby:  A job is where you go somewhere to work and come home. Writing is just a hobby.

Me:  You spend money on hobbies. You make money on a job. What about that new patio set? What about the new BBQ grill? What about the new shelving unit? What about the vacation I’m taking where I don’t have to use any money from our full time jobs?

And it goes on and on. The bottom line is that most people won’t see our writing as a real job. If we have to leave a friend’s house early because we need to write, they just don’t understand why. They don’t get the fact that it’s a job and we need to work. This whole attitude makes me furious sometimes. Why is someone else’s job more important just because they are working for someone else? In fact, I feel like my job is MORE important because it’s MY business and I’m working for myself.

So, you are going to run into people who will never take you seriously. I’ve made over $13,000 from my writing so far, and my husband still doesn’t get it. There may be some of you who are doing this whole writing thing just for the fun of it. But I bet most of you are doing it because you want to write for a living. Am I right? My point is, don’t let these people discourage you and make you want to give up. Just like with other things (like weight loss), the people you love the most can be the very ones who sabotage your efforts.

I think the best way to keep from being discouraged by unsupportive people is to make sure YOU think of it as a real job.  Set times aside for your writing. When speaking to others about your writing, treat it as a job. Be firm about that. If you are already published, keep good sales records. Keep up with your expenses. Do everything that you would do if you were running your own business in another field. If you were running a retail store, you wouldn’t just throw money around willy, nilly and work only when you “felt like it”. You wouldn’t let other people tell you that it wasn’t a real job. You would WORK.

Many of you are just starting this writing journey, and are new to all of this. Some of you will publish traditionally, many more of you will self publish. If you take it seriously and treat it like a business, it will help others take it more seriously. You will have some who will never understand, but no one will understand if you don’t. Writing is a real job. It may be one that you love, but no one ever said you couldn’t love your job. Don’t let anyone ever tell you it’s not real work. I’ve never worked so hard in my life!

~*~

Lauralynn Elliott

How Badly Do You Want It? By Lauralynn Elliott

One of my other posts was about the three stages of writing, and I had compared it to the three stages of weight loss I learned from Weight Watchers. Since I worked for WW for about 15 years, I learned a lot, so I’m going to use something else I learned from them. How badly do you want it?

What really started me thinking about his again was when I was complaining the other day about my weight loss efforts. My husband simply said, “You’ve got to want it bad enough.” And I had heard that very thing, and taught it, at Weight Watchers. This can be applied to writing as well. We have to want it.

When everyone starts a ROW80 round, there is a lot of enthusiasm and goal setting. And everyone is sure that they’ll make their goals with no problems. But one thing I think some people forget…it’s a lot of hard work! If you’re new to the writing business, you may not realize just how much work goes into writing a novel or novella. That’s one of the reasons we should set goals. It’s not just something you play around with and dabble at. (Yes, I ended a sentence with a preposition.) We have to put ourselves into what we write, or it will be shallow and empty.

So, are you willing to work? There are going to be times when you’re really tired and you want to just forget about the writing for that day. There are going to be times when you’re really stressed out and you don’t feel like you can emotionally put yourself into the writing. There are going to be times when shiny new games lure you into a world where your writing doesn’t exist. Things are going to distract you from your best laid plans. But do you want this? How badly?

We aren’t perfect, and we’re going to slack off sometimes. But when it becomes a habit to NOT write instead of write, that’s when we start getting into trouble. Sometimes I want to lose weight so badly that I can’t wait to do it. But when I see and smell that pizza, it suddenly becomes more important than my weight loss efforts…for a short time. Then I regret all the pizza I put into my mouth. And I get really excited about exercising, but then when it comes time, it just doesn’t happen. When we start finding excuses not to write, then our priorities are getting mixed up and we’re losing our focus.

So how badly do you want it? How important is it to you that you see your work published? You can’t publish it if you don’t finish it. Are you willing to write when you’re tired? Are you willing to write first and play that fun game later? Are you willing to rein in the emotions that are making you crazy right now long enough to put down some words? Is it easy? Of course it’s not easy. Nothing that’s really important in life comes easily. It takes work, dedication, and perseverance. You’ve got to want this so badly that you’re willing to make sacrifices. I don’t mean neglecting the really important things in your life, but we are prone to finding all kinds of excuses not to write.

Think about the things you have accomplished in your life. Did you get a degree, raise children, work hard at your job, or play a sport? What are the strengths inside yourself that enabled you to do these things? Was it determination, good self-esteem, stubbornness? What made you accomplish the things you did? Whatever it was that kept you going with all the other important accomplishments in your life, those same things can help you along your writing journey. Reach down into yourself and find those strengths that you possess. Use those traits to aid you when you feel like you just can’t do it. You have those strengths!

So how badly do you want it? Can you taste the success? Can you envision your book on Amazon or Barnes and Noble? Can you feel the book in your hand if you decide to do a print version? How badly do you want it? Only you can answer that question. But for those of us doing ROW80, I think the answer is obvious…or we wouldn’t be doing this challenge in the first place. Keep working. The rewards are worth it!

 ~*~

Lauralynn Elliott

When Life Throws You A Curve Ball

One of the best things about ROW80 is that it allows for life…REAL life. Wouldn’t it be great if life always went exactly the way you planned and nothing bad or unexpected ever happened? But that’s not the reality we live in. Life does happen and sometimes things come at you HARD.

This year several things happened to me. My mom had a heart attack with other complications stemming from it. The county I live in was devastated by a series of five tornadoes. And, not long ago, I lost my best friend. Life threw me curve balls, change ups, and some really fast balls. The question was, though, was I going to strike out or hit it out of the park?

How about you? What has life thrown you? I’ve read a lot of your blogs and there have been several instances where the authors had some really tough times. Sometimes it’s something tragic, sometimes it’s just something frustrating. But all of the things that happen to us can cause us to make up excuses not to write. We can get so tangled up in all of life’s problems that writing gets put on the back burner. And the next thing we know, the round of ROW80 is over and our project is abandoned.

So what can we do to get back in the game? I think one of the most important things we can do is turn to our fellow players. You know, those other authors doing ROW80. This has become quite a close knit little community, and I couldn’t believe the outpouring of thoughts and prayers when my friend died. All these people are here to support you when you need it. When you’re feeling like you’ve been benched and can’t get out of the dugout, talk to us. I’ve noticed that some authors will skip their check ins when they feel they haven’t done well. That’s the time you need to check in the most! Go ahead and do your Sunday and Wednesday posts, and let us all know how you’re feeling. I guarantee you’ll get the support you need. And if you pop over to my post for that day, let me know how you’re feeling right there on my blog. The next thing you know, you’ll feel more energized and you can swing that bat and hit a home run.

But what if, no matter how hard you tried, you didn’t make your goals for that round of ROW80? Just remember, a team never wins all the games. The important thing is that you play the best you can and give it your all. Like I said in the first paragraph…ROW80 allows for real life. And there’s going to be another round of ROW80 just like there will be other games. So don’t quit the team! Let’s all work together to win some games!

 ~*~

Lauralynn Elliott