Are You Ready To Make The Jump To Professional Writing?

There are a lot of you out there who have been writing for some time. You love the craft. You love creating characters. You go home each day, after a hard day of work and get right to work on that story. It is your passion and your chance to just let those creative juices flow. You have your critique group watching your back and guiding you along the way. And then you type those two magic words.

At that point, suddenly your world is turned upside-down. Those critique partners, your friends and your family are immediately on your case to get the book published. They are hard at work sending you links to editors and agents. They are talking you into going to conferences to pitch to every person who is out there who will listen. They are already talking about building a website and marketing your book. 

And you aren't feeling it yet. You are felling more like Kevin! Stop the madness!!! This is beyond sensory overload.

I am here to tell you something plain and simple. You don't have to be ready yet. It is fine to tell your friends that you are still in that learning mode. You just are not ready, and they have to deal with it. 

Mentally and emotionally, you have to be ready to make this jump. You have to know that the writing you used to do is going to change. You can't just say "you aren't feeling it today" when you have an editor on your back about a deadline. You have to be ready to give up part of that writing time to marketing and publicity. 

I would also add that you need to have the backing of your family to make this jump. You are now taking on a second job and they need to be there for you. That might mean picking up the slack around the house, or simply giving you the space and time to write. 

Financially you need to be ready, especially if you are going to take the self-publishing route. Publishing your book takes money. You now have to get out there to conferences (cha ching) to tell people about your book. You now have to get promo items to give away at those conferences (more money....)

Hopefully you get the idea of what I am talking about. Just take the time to know when you, are personally ready. I promise, you will be much happier in the long run.