Stop! Don’t Shoot!

Don’t be like the legendary gunslinger who marched down the street in spurs that “jingled, jangled, jingled,” fixed his beady eye on the villain, and yelled, “Draw!” Why not? Because his shiny six-gun stuck in his holster. When he pulled the trigger, he shot himself in the foot.

What in the world does this gunslinger have to do with you and your writing? Plenty.

Early in our careers (and by early, I mean anytime in the first three years of writing), authors get bitten by a bug. This bug causes a raging fever, accompanied by an agitation with our current lifestyle. We conclude there’s only one possible solution to this mental frenzy: we must quit our day job!

Ready, Set, Go!

I’ve been bitten by this particular bug three times early in my 27-year writing career. I couldn’t stand my day job anymore, and I HAD to have more time for my writing. Deep down I knew I could make a living as a writer. That day job was standing in my way, draining my creative energies. Mistaking frustration for inspiration, I quit my job. I shot myself in the foot.

I’m sure you’ve guessed the ending to this story. The exhilaration of having all day to write evaporated quickly when the bills piled up. During this period I did receive more acceptances for my stories—actually many more—but the time that elapsed between writing the story and receiving an acceptance and actually getting paid for it created a major cash flow problem. Pressure mounted.

At home I cut expenses to the bone, but it was soon apparent that I had done more than shoot myself in the foot. I had jumped ship without a life jacket. I had not looked before I leaped. I had jumped the gun. (Goodness, why are there so many metaphors for making stu­pid, impulsive decisions?) 

Like Sands through an Hourglass ...        

There’s no getting around it. Success takes time. As Jacquelyn Denalli once said, “It takes so doggone long to become self-supporting. That’s the one thing that scares a lot of freelancers off; they’re good writers and they try it for six months, but when they don’t make a lot of money right away, they either give up or are forced to give up because they can’t negotiate payment on publication with the electric company.”

This happened to a student of mine, a teacher whose husband was in school part-time. Her family required her income for at least another two years, yet against my advice, she resigned in the middle of the school year. She’s an excellent writer, and I’m confident her book will sell, but after a few short months it was apparent she needed her day job to keep food on the table. She ended up delivering pizzas because her teaching position had been filled.

Take Inventory

So . . . before you give up your job to become a self-supporting full-time writer, pause and honestly consider these questions.

(1) Do you manage time well? Is discipline no longer a big problem for you? Writers who have been squeezing in writing hours among regular jobs, household chores, and family obligations often enter full-time life figuring they’ll now have all the time in the world. Unfortunately, too much time often leads to procrastination and less productivity than a busy part-timer might achieve. So be honest: have you proved to be self-disciplined and motivated in the past? Are you already able to stick to a writing schedule almost every day, no matter what your family or friends are doing? Do you continually start and finish new writing projects?

(2) Do you have sufficient financial support to keep you afloat for a minimum of six months, preferably a year or more, if you don’t make much money freelancing? If you’re married, can your spouse carry the whole load that long, and is s/he willing? You really should have six to twelve months’ worth of living expenses socked away in savings. (This is the most ignored suggestion; it may be the most critical to your success.)

(3) Do you have a business plan? Do you have some writing successes already? Know the markets you want to approach, and take the necessary time beforehand to study in the spe­cific areas where you want to publish. Do you study current market guides already, and read books/magazines/bulletins in your genre? That’s critical. You also need to be keeping careful

records of income, expenses, and taxes.

(4) Do you have private space for an office where you can work undisturbed when you need to? It doesn’t have to be fancy (my first office was a tiny closet painted orange), but you’ll need good lighting, an answering machine, decent office equipment, and a comfortable chair. You need space of your own [a] to be able to leave your work out (without anyone rear­ranging your manuscript pages or coloring pictures on them), [b] to work without being dis­turbed (by the family room TV), and [c] to feel like a professional (which is hard to do when mopping up milk off your manuscript at the kitchen table).

Calculated Risks

I don’t mean to imply that you shouldn’t try full-time freelancing until you’ve eliminated every single risk. For one thing, I don’t believe you can. There is no such thing as the perfectly safe time to quit your day job, a time where it will be risk-free to be a freelancer. If and when you make the break, it will always require a leap of faith.

However, do strive for balance, for being responsible and sensible, especially if others depend on you. You owe them that. (Obviously, if you’re single and without family or financial obligations, making the break will be less of a risk.) Let me repeat: strive for balance. While you owe something to your family, you owe yourself something too.

Slow and Steady Wins the Race

Is all this said to discourage you from ever making the break from your day job to full-time freelancing? Not at all! Being a full-time writer is as fun and free and gratifying as you think it will be.

I just want to save you from the agony of leaping too soon, without a safety net, spraining both ankles, then having to crawl back to your employer. So much of our creativity depends on how we feel about ourselves and our writing; being forced to give up puts a real dent in our egos.

Making the change slowly gives you a much higher chance of succeeding. Moving too quickly (“I have to quit now!”) can actually be your downfall. Having to admit failure can be so discouraging that it is the death of your writing dreams.

Count the Cost

Better, I believe, to count the cost first. See where you are. See where you want to be. Then plot sure and steady steps to reach that full-time freelancing goal. Plan your work, and work your plan.

Then you’ll be able to strap on your six-gun, jingle your silver spurs, and (instead of shooting yourself in the foot), take down that villain with a single well-aimed bullet.

Copyright ©  2002-2007 Kristi Holl.  No part of the electronic media to which this notice is appended may be reproduced or redistributed in any form or manner without the express written permission of Kristi Holl.