When I dropped out of grad school a month ago, the plan was to go into publishing (specifically typesetting/book design) and write on the side, eventually doing more writing than publishing.
Well, over the past week or two, that plan has shifted its weight, and in doing so it uncovered my real dream: to become a full-time writer. I suppose I knew this all along deep down inside, but it seemed so infeasible that I never thought I’d actually do it. Writing would just be an on-the-side activity for me, I had decided.
And that is how it will be for the near future, but the goal now is to go full-time with writing as soon as I can. It may take five years, it may take 20 or 30, I don’t know. But that’s the goal. It’s what I love most, my dream job, more than anything else I can possibly think of. It’s my passion. I get goosebumps and butterflies every time I think about it. It’s me.
I do realize that it’s a heck of a lot of work to get there and stay there, yes. I don’t expect it to come easy. But it’s my dream, so I’m going to make it work, so help me. Nothing can stop me. :)
In the meantime, I’m still planning to do typesetting and publishing, of course. I love designing books, so it’ll be the perfect day job for me until I’m making enough off royalties to support my family. It’s also my dream, just not quite as deep as the writing dream.
In contemplating both the writing and (to a lesser degree) the typesetting, the exhilarating feeling tickling my soul is freedom. As a writer I’ll be able to work wherever I want — in a library carrel, on a bench at the park, on a bus, on a plane, wherever. And whenever I want — early morning, late at night, whenever. Being an employee is swiftly starting to feel like the bonds of slavery. ;)
Brief semi-related tangent: Over the weekend I came across Paul Graham’s new essay, “You Weren’t Meant to Have a Boss”, in which he has this great quote: “In an artificial world, only extremists live naturally.” Lots of food for thought there. I recommend it.
Anyway, as a writer I feel drawn toward what the publishers are calling YA fantasy, so that’s probably what I’ll be writing most of the time, though my interests are wide enough that I won’t be able to stick to just that — I want to write everything. :)
The next step for now is to just write a lot and start sending stuff in to publishers, because it’s kind of hard to make a living off writing if you don’t ever try to get published. ;) Here begins what’ll be a long and very adventurous journey…
Comments
Pretty exciting, Ben. I think you’re turning the corner that I’m beginning to approach. I’m really excited for you, really. Have you been reading my blog lately? I’ve added the ability to comment now. : )
Ah, Ben…you would have loved the conference this last weekend…lots of published authors…plus a New York publisher and a Los Angeles agent…and pitch sessions galore! I know you had scheduling conflicts, but it was great. Brandon Sanderson (who’s taking over for the last book of Wheel of Time) gave a great seminar on World Building. Plus, he’s the one that got the 4 million dollar deal from Scholastic for the Alcatraz YA Fantasy series (Book 1, Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians, is out). He does teach a once a year class at BYU, though, too :)
Are you considering further education? Creative writing, perhaps? Teaching seems like a somewhat natural side profession for writers.
Ben, that is totally exciting!!! :) Good luck to you!
I think this is the perfect career choice for you. Not only will it allow you to further delve into you obsession with books and writing, but I think it will provide a good mental challenge. Being a librarian would have been good too, but I think you would have found the lack of challenge to be less fulfilling. Good luck and send me some of your stuff.
I like what you said about freedom, and I must say, that is one of the coolest things about working for yourself. However, I also must clarify a little bit – you said:
“As a writer I’ll be able to work wherever I want — in a library carrel, on a bench at the park, on a bus, on a plane, wherever. And whenever I want — early morning, late at night, whenever.”
I agree that it would be totally feasible to work wherever you want, but I must add that to work whenever you want, you need your wife’s permission. That is, you’re not going to work late into the night if she doesn’t want you to work late into the night. Trust me on this one. So, that is true within the boundaries of family life, and sounds like an exciting career nonetheless!
Being an employee is swiftly starting to feel like the bonds of slavery. ;)
Ha! I’m exploring the possibiity of freelancing full time, so this rings true to my ears…
Last year, I followed the video blogs of YA author John Green and his brother Hank. For a few months surrounding his book release, John was on the road a ton, sometimes 5 days out of the week, promoting his book. He was also harassed by deadlines endlessly. He’s a good-natured guy, so he took it in stride, but I wouldn’t go into writing necessarily believing that your schedule will be your own… because once a publisher deems you worthy to be published, said publisher will also control your life and you will once again be “employed.”
I don’t have first hand experience, but that’s what I observed, and certainly what John Green presented as reality in his vlog.
But… good luck? Sorry, I’m a downer sometimes.
Also, I like the guy who does the organ accompaniment. I can’t remember his name, but he was in my stake presidency last year. Those shows are so entertaining!
I’m lucky that with my job on campus, I can go in whenever I want, but I’m supposed to have a certain schedule. Just knowing that I HAVE to go to work also makes me feel like a slave. Oh the joys of being self-employed that I’ll never feel.
Just so Hilary knows, the organist is Mike Ohman, my old boss.
Don’t you love those moments when you finally realize what you want to become? I think that this is a monumental moment, and I’m glad that you have a very feasible plan.
Steve
p.s. Brandon Sanderson wrote 13 books till he became big.
p.p.s The British writer received 743 rejection slips before going on to publish 562 books in at least 5000 publications in 26 languages.
p.p.p.s Samuel Beckett published his first novel “murphy” after receiving 42 rejections.
p.p.p.p.s. Jack london received hundreds of rejections before having his first story be accepted.
So my good friend Ben, I hope that in the words of Sir Winston Churchill (who consequently was defeated in every public election until he became prime minister at an age of 62) that you “Never give up, Never, Never give up.”
Ben, I highly reccomend a book by Stephen King called simply “On Writing”. It’s a fantastic book: half is his memiors or his story of what it was like starting out as a writer… being rejected over and over and over, and finally someone appreciated something you do and giving you a bit of money for it!! The second half is written to ‘you’ the reader as some of his thoughts on writing. Seeing as how he’s called The Craft, his conception of writing is classic. I (as many people) have toyed with the idea of writing during my professional career and I submit it for your consideration.
Barney: Beginning to approach? We’ll have to talk. :) And yes, I’ve been reading your blog, but I didn’t know I could start commenting. I’ll get on that soon. :)
Joe: I know, I know. I read Julie Wright’s post about the conference (and I think James Dashner covered it too, or maybe it was J. Scott Savage, I can’t remember). Next year for sure. :) Wow, Sanderson got a $4 million deal on Alcatraz? That’s intense. I’ve heard about his creative writing class and I think I’m going to see if I can sit in on it sometime…
Bart: I’ve entertained the thought but I think I’ll keep typesetting as my side profession, if any. But who knows? We’ll see. :)
Alli: Thanks! :)
James the First: Yes, it’ll be a great challenge. (And there is a challenge in librarianship, just of a different kind.) It’ll stretch me. It’ll be hard. There’ll be times when I’ll wonder what on earth I was thinking. But it’s so worth it. I’ll send you some of my stuff, for sure; in the meantime you can check out some of my stuff on Blank Slate.
James the Second: All too true. You know, I don’t really know why I put that late at night bit — I plan to go to bed early and wake up early, especially once I have kids. I can’t wait. :) All I really meant, come to think of it, was that it’s very flexible and can bend around the needs of my family. And that’s nice.
Connor: Cool — good luck! :)
Hilary: Oh, I don’t expect perfect freedom. This isn’t a perfect world. :) But writing does offer considerably more freedom than most other jobs. I should say, though, that the freedom isn’t why I’m going into writing, it’s just a nice perk. I’m going into writing because I love it and there’s nothing else I’d rather be doing. :) (And yes, the organ was awesome.)
Julie: All the jobs I’ve had since my mission have been the same way. And I don’t think I could do a 9-5 job, frankly. That’s not my style.
Cathy: Thanks, sis. :)
Steve: It really is a monumental moment. My whole life’s been building up to it, actually, now that I look back on everything that’s gone before. Thanks for the rejection stats, by the way (where’d you get them? :)) — and I’m sure as heck going to persist until I get accepted. No fear of rejection here, just OCD. :P
George: Cool, thanks! I’ll check it out. :)
Wow. A big step to be sure. Very brave of you, Ben.
All my best!
Thanks, e. :)