So you dream of being a writer now what? 5 Practical Thoughts If You Want To Get Paid To Write
If you don’t treat writing like it’s your job now, then it never will be.
In order to get paid to write we need to be disciplined and passionate.
Get paid to write:
#1 To get paid to write we have to finish what we start
Hard truth: Writers get paid to write because they finish their writing projects.
I dare say we creatives are all guilty of starting an amazing project only to get bored with it when it becomes REAL WORK and run off to get started on the next fun, shiny item (at least most of us are willing to admit that).
The thing is if we never finish a book we will never be published writers and never get paid to write.
If we never finish a project we will never be freelance writers and if we never finish a blog post and actually hit that beautiful publish button we will never be bloggers.
Sad but true.
Push through, finish the writing project, and get paid to write.
#2 Make a daily goal
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Doesn’t matter what it is, if we don’t start making a daily goal for ourselves then we may never get paid to write or become proficient and finish any projects and that’s where the dream dies.
Don’t let the dream die.
When you make your daily goals, start small.
- Write for 10 minutes a day, not an hour
- 100 words a day vs 1000 words a day
- Read a page for inspiration, not a whole chapter
- Create one post today, not 10
- Work on the project for an hour before lunch, not 8 hours before lunch.
- Etc
You know yourself so don’t let us stop you from trying to do more, but as a general rule starting small means getting more done in the long run.
If you don’t start somewhere, you’ll never start and you’ll never get paid to write.
If you try to take on more than you can handle then you’ll dread doing it and nothing will get started.
100 words a day may seem small, but 100 is better than 0 words a day.
And more often than not if you start with such a small goal in mind then when you actually sit down to write you’ll quickly find yourself writing more than 100 words at a time.
Sometimes just sitting down and actually starting is the hardest part.
It’s like jumping off a ledge. There’s nothing to do but do it.
Also, create LONG TERM goals. Above ^ are just examples of daily goals and starting small. But long term goals make a big difference too.
- This year I want to create a blog (See here if that’s you)
- This year I want to start freelance writing
- This year I want to finish my book
- This year I want to quit my job so I can get paid to write full time
These are all good writing goals for people that love to write, but they must be broken down into smaller daily goals or they might never happen.
Create your daily small goals with your long term End Game? goals in mind.
#3 Let the process change you
We either build good habits or bad habits. There’s little in between. But it can be subjective
Writing for some is a good habit.
For humans dreaming of being writers, paid writers it’s a MUST habit.
But don’t just do it to write, enjoy the process.
Don’t ever lose the enjoyment of letting words roll onto the page.
It helps with focus.
It helps with clarity.
Thinking is one thing, but seeing our words on a page and then being able to shape the sentences in revision into one entity helps us map out deep concepts that can translate well into other areas of our lives.
If you can take a character through a trauma maybe you can figure out how to help yourself and others deal with some trauma as well.
Being able to see things from the bigger picture vantage point helps bring clarity to the smaller scenes.
#4 Being published is much harder than just writing for fun
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If your dream is to be a published writer we think that’s great, but we want it to be known that being published isn’t some sitting on the beach sipping pina colada’s job. It is a job. And it is work.
For some, it is a more enjoyable work, but for the unexpecting, it could be quite stressful.
And we don’t want you to be stressed. We want you to be prepared and educated 🙂 ready to dive into any challenge that may come your way being a published writer.
Being published means serious deadlines.
And serious deadlines mean elbow grease and sweat.
To get paid to write books as a published writer means seriously writing and revising every day.
A writer has all the time in the world to work on a story…until they are published.
After being published, professional writers are expected to meet strict deadlines and they are expected to create additional books in less time than they did create their first books when they were not yet published.
When you’re not published, nobody is waiting for you to finish anything.
When you’re publishing an entire company is waiting for you to hand them a completely finished and polished book ready to be sent out to market.
Thankfully in today’s publishing world, you can be self-published through market places like Amazon.
This doesn’t mean your book would be advertised like a publisher does, but it does mean you have more time to work on it and potentially earn more from it if you publish it yourself and the publishing company isn’t taking out a big chunk.
So you’ve got options for being published.
#5 Learn to say no
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Bluehost hosts your blog so that you can own your domain and make money blogging. Check them out only if you’re interested in making money blogging; otherwise, go for a free blog instead 🙂
Try Grammarly, The Free tool that should be in every writer’s toolbelt.
One of the greatest and hardest skills in life is learning how and what to say no to.
Not just in writing but in all areas and seasons of life.
None of us enjoy disappointing other humans, especially humans that we care about. So learning what to say no to so you actually have time to write and do things that are important is a tough daily challenge.
Learning how to chunk out time out of our busy day, every day, to say no to everything else is tough to do.
Being able to take time to write, can be a daunting task depending on what prior commitments we already have.
- Spouse
- Kids
- Job
- School
- Pets
- Family
- Friends
- Etc
You name it, everyone has commitments.
And we’re not saying to give any of them up, but it’s time to cut 10 minutes out of the day to write and more than likely that 10 minutes may have to be taken out of movies, video games, T.V., and Netflix time (Say it ain’t so!)
Tis true. A fair amount of us wouldn’t want to admit, but our leisure time, whatever that may be personally, might be taking up too much of our time if we seriously want to get paid to write.
If you can’t find just 10 minutes in your day to write or at least put down 100 words on the page a day, maybe writing isn’t actually what you want to be doing anyway 🙂
In Conclusion, if we are serious to get paid to write:
- Make long term goals
- Make daily goals that are much smaller that will make your long term goals happen
- Let the process change you (get rid of old habits and develop good habits)
- Not all writing jobs are sipping drinks on the beach while the money flows in
- Start today by figuring out a good time to start writing and creating
- Don’t be afraid to experiment (no one discipline is right, just find what writing habits work for you)
Hope this helps!
Happy writing!
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Interested in starting a blog of your own? Check out Bluehost.
If you enjoy 5 Practical Thoughts If You Want To Get Paid To Write and writing fiction, you might love owning a domain of your own where you can write about it? Ever want to own your own domain name (Yourname.com)?
Bluehost hosts your blog so that you can own your domain and make money blogging. Check them out only if you’re interested in making money blogging; otherwise, go for a free blog instead 🙂
Try Grammarly, The Free tool that should be in every writer’s toolbelt.
5 Practical Thoughts If You Want To Get Paid To Write
5 Practical Thoughts If You Want To Get Paid To Write
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Interested in starting a blog of your own? Check out Bluehost.
If you enjoy 5 Practical Thoughts If You Want To Get Paid To Write and writing fiction, you might love owning a domain of your own where you can write about it? Ever want to own your own domain name (Yourname.com)?
Bluehost hosts your blog so that you can own your domain and make money blogging. Check them out only if you’re interested in making money blogging; otherwise, go for a free blog instead 🙂
Try Grammarly, The Free tool that should be in every writer’s toolbelt.
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