LIVING THE AUTHOR LIFE
I have been published for almost 18 years now. It blows my mind to think about that, think about what it means and how far I've come. That said, it also feels like this has been something I've done my whole life. It's hard for me to separate the actual true past, and the thought that I've always been writing, always been working to a point where I can live the author life full time.
I get to see a lot of different sides of the author life because of my process, and because of the way I've gone about it. From dealing with a shady publisher, to the advent of ebooks and KDP and self-publishing getting a leg up to help those authors like me who just wanna publish their books, and have them reach the right readers, but also be able to support ourselves.
I've said before that I'm a very small fish in a very big pond, and that I'm okay with that. It's still true. I know that because I'm indie, and because I suck mostly at advertising and marketing, then I may always stay as a small fish. For me the reason I write is because I have stories that I need to tell. Stories that live inside me and are itching to get out.
Here's an example of what I mean, these past two months I've been going through a massive pain flare, and doing the smallest thing has felt nigh on impossible. I've needed more pills than I usually do, and because of that have been sleeping more, needing more downtime, and the only thing that I have consistently been able, in fact needing to do, is write.
Now, I know that some of you might think that the better option for me was to rest and recover, and while I have been doing a whole ton of that, some of the relief I've found has come from letting my words flow out onto the page and just lose myself in another world. Readers do it when they pick up a book, but authors and writers do it too. They open their document, and just sink into the known, the familiar, the unknown sometimes, and that can be a balm to the soul.
No one ever said that writing would be easy, or that being an author would be easy. No one tells you that all you have to do is write a book, publish it, and then boom, instant recognition. It doesn't work like that for anyone, apart from maybe celebrities but they already had the instant recognition, so I don't think that counts. For me, living the author life is hard. It something where there are times I struggle, and there are times when I think that I'm not going to be able to make it much further, or that my ideas will dry up, or that my body will give out on me, and I won't be able to write any more.
And being honest? That terrifies me because losing the ability to write my stories and share them with my readers is something that keeps me going at times. It can be lonely, it can be isolating, it can be hard, you can cry and sweat and get frustrated at the way things are going, but, and here's the thing, you have to keep going. You can't give up and throw in the towel, because those stories will not write themselves, and you just gotta keep writing, keep moving forward. It's the only way to do it. I wish you all the luck in the world!
Any questions? Lemme know in the comments!
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