Where do you want your writing career to be one year from now? How many books do you want to have written? How many books do you want to have studied? How much revenue do you want to have generated?
What is your plan for meeting these targets?
I’ll admit, these questions have always freaked me out a bit. They hold such promise but they’re also uncomfortable because they require us to be accountable. And here’s the thing about being a writer: we are the only ones who will hold ourselves to account. There’s no boss or board of directors.
At its core, a professional writer’s life is no different than the life of any other business owner. We’ve all got to create the goods, deliver the services, and generate the income.
Being a writer and literary editor is the coolest job ever, but it’s still a job. As authors, we’ve got to proactively drive the growth of our companies. Sure we can hire contractors to help us with certain things, and we might be able to tap into some arts or business funding, but for the most part, we’re a staff of one and we’re funding the growth of our businesses from the income we earn in our day jobs. (That is, of course, until we’ve created enough assets to generate enough sales for us to quit our day jobs!)
This requires incredible fortitude, unwavering persistence and keen business acumen.
It also requires self-disciple, clearly defined goals and a plan for achieving those goals.
So, where do you want your writing career to be one year from now, and what’s your plan for making it happen? Because you can make it happen.
