In the publishing industry, time is money. This is true for editors, agents, and writers. Especially authors who have no day job and write full time. Every moment they are away from their keyboards (or typewriters / notepads / dictation devices) is dollars washing away down the drain because they aren’t writing those words that will earn them money. Often, these are people who have no health benefits, have no paid vacation or sick time, and have little to no backup plan for major medical expenses or natural disasters that rip their homes away.
I’ve always known this in the back of my head, but as the years go by and I get more and more involved in the industry, I notice it happening to people I know directly or by proxy. Disaster hits, personal or impersonal, and the writers can’t write and owe a lot of bills. (There’s a reason why so many writers are saying F*^% Cancer lately).
I am one of the few lucky writers to have a day job. I have insurance and paid time off. Many authors I know are scrambling to get jobs as the writing gigs dry up and the self-publishing route doesn’t pan out the way they’d hoped. eBooks are still considered new, after all. The publishing industry is still trying to figure out how to deal with them and there are plenty of people capable of throwing together a .pdf, converting it, and tossing it in the “published works pool” where it competes for attention along with all the pro writers dipping their toes in the self-publishing lake.
The thing is, not a lot of people have the discretionary funds to spend on luxury items, a category that books technically fall under when it’s a choice between food or a home verses the reading material. So authors get penalized even more, because their books just aren’t selling, despite the hype that one or two outliers get.
As I said in an earlier post, time isn’t something that you find or create. It’s something that you have to recognize. In the Dragon*Con time management session (Wait! I Gotta Deadline) in the Writer’s Track I just attended, authors Timothy Zahn, S.M. Stirling, Jonathan Maberry, A.J. Hartley, and Cheshire (I hope I got her name correct) Burke did a wonderful time discussing the issue. They covered topics such as setting up a writing routine, writing to a daily quota, how much time they alot to social media, and issues like this. This is arguably one of the better Writer’s Track sessions I’ve ever attended.
Though, I do have this to say. After all the cons and classes I’ve attended both before and after I’ve gotten published, I’ve finally come to a conclusion. An author’s advice is not all inclusive. What works for one person, doesn’t work for everyone. What authors teach at writers workshops and conventions is the systems and trial-n-error process that got them where they are today. Their wisdom doesn’t necessarily work for everyone.
Case in point, Jonathan Maberry rewards himself when he hits his daily quota by paying himself a dollar every day he does it. The money is not allowed to be spent on bills or anything practical. Once he’s done with a project, he has to do something fun with it. He’s the only other author I’ve heard speak of a reward system for himself, something I advocate myself because it works for me. But where he does money, I reward myself with books I want to read or t.v. shows / DVDs I want to watch.
The point is to find something to motivate yourself. After all, there will always be excuses to NOT write. So what’s your reward for writing despite all excuses?
