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I ran across this little ditty by Olin Miller: Writing is the hardest way of earning a living, with the possible exception of wrestling alligators. Amen to that.
More than once today, I've thought, 'oh, you're so right!' Writing is hard---'specially when you can't concentrate because of outside noise. This particular day, like every other workday since the beginning of April, our neighborhood has been 'treated' to construction sounds, from 6:30 a.m. till, would you believe, 7 or 8 p.m. Backup beeps rip through the air continuously (or so it seems---although, at this moment, they're silent. But wait five minutes and that'll change), and heavy equipment rumbles past the house to and from the worksite half a block away. It'll all change again in October, and our typically quiet neighborhood will return to normal. By then, summer will be gone, and who knows? we may see our first snowflake soon after the trucks go away for good.
So that's the scenario I work under for now. If I were fall housecleaning, I'd block out their noise easily. But while I'm in the creative work mode, constant noises are a distraction. No doubt about it, focusing on writing projects isn't easy---but it's not impossible. After all, other work-at-home writers do it, sometimes amid a house full of little ones clamoring for attention.
Nevertheless, when we sign on for this life, we'd better expect annoyances of all kinds---including construction beeps half a block away---and work through it anyway. It beats wrestling alligators, any day!
Julia Cameron writes about writing. I've re-read two of her books, "The Sound of Paper" and "The Right to Write," countless times, usually picking up on something I'd overlooked in previously readings. To Julia, whom I've never met, I say thanks, you've done a lot to help me stick to the business of writing at home.
Two ideas I've gleaned each time have been extremely useful.
The first is something Julia calls 'Morning Pages.' How and why do it? First, the how: Write three pages (not two, not four) in longhand, every day soon after rising for the day. Second, it opens a vein so you'll bleed words. After the morning pages, you're ready to move on to the business of writing. For several years, I've worn out boxes of gel pens (my favorite writing instrument) and stacks of pads and notebooks of paper. That simple practice does, indeed, prime the pump. Make it a regular part of your day.
The second idea is to take a walk (my version of a mini-vacation). It opens you up to your surroundings, and rejuvenates, recharges. Not quite two blocks away from where I sit is a lovely park. Picnic tables are scattered about in outdoor months. I like to pack up my writing tools, a book or magazine, and a beverage (usually water), and walk there. After an hour, sometimes a little longer, I'm ready to return home. I've enjoyed the sun, the fresh air, and maybe the sound of a few kids using the playground equipment closeby. That time away from the phone and computer refreshes me like nothing else can, and I'm happy to return to my current writing project.
Not long after he left the military, Darrell became an insurance agent, first on the East Coast, then, to help his parents through their final illnesses, he came home to the Midwest. To earn a living while he was always there for his folks, he set up shop at home by starting a new agency from scratch.
Building a scratch agency is hard work but it wasn't new to him; he'd successfully done it before. But this time it was different; he met lots of resistance in getting a toehold in this new market. Nevertheless, he worked his plan every day, making cold calls, networking.
Darrell did non-insurance things, as well, to recharge his batteries when they ran low, re-energize his spirit. He mowed his own lawn, joined the VFW, helped relatives or neighbors in need.
Meanwhile, a county away from Darrell's digs, I busily tried to get a toehold, too, as an independent insurance agent working from home. That was the road I'd mapped out to reach financial security for my children and me. With the residual income I'd earn, I could then settle down to the writing life, and be at home for my kids.
One thing led to another. The next thing I knew, I was having lunch with Darrell---up until then a total stranger---and two agent friends of his. Table talk centered on insurance, and how we could get our piece of the pie. Darrell and I became business friends then and there, and for the next five years of our business alliance, he taught me more about the insurance business than I could have imagined. Going into the insurance biz, I'd been skeptical of insurance people and their ethics. Observing Darrell, however, I recognized I'd met a man of ethics, someone who was a credit to the insurance world. He was the best possible example for a newbie like me.
Over countless pots of coffee in my kitchen, we held planning sessions, then implemented them. Some of the joint ventures failed, a few succeeded. Through it all, Darrell kept to his daily routine, determined to succeed, believing he would. It was yet another powerful example; so beneficial, in fact, that Darrell's ways sit in my head even now as I work toward a successful life as a writer.
I relocated to another state five years later but Darrell and I kept in touch. I was overjoyed to learn, a few years later, that the tide had finally turned in his favor. His determination and his plodding ways had paid off.
And so it is with writers trying to build a successful writing business. We won't ring the bell every time, and we will get discouraged and wonder if we're in the right profession. If we keep examples like Darrell in mind, though, we'll be reminded that success isn't always in a hurry to arrive. If we plod and plan---#1, writing; #2, marketing---we'll arrive, too. Darrell was discouraged oh-so-many times, but he'd never allow himself to give up. ("To do what?" he asked me once.)
Try Darrell's way...plod your way to success as a work-at-home writer.
Since I was a little girl, my sister Joan sang the praises of our cousin Junior. Soon, I, too, was a fan. He made me feel special, asking questions, listening to my answers, making comments, suggestions. Actually, ask anyone who knows him and they'll all say the same thing: Junior makes me feel special, treasured, unique. He's the relative you want to be sure to see, spend time with, when he comes home at holiday time, or any other time of the year.
For a few years, he sent me Christmas gifts. I still treasure one in particular, a silver, Native American-made bracelet with matching earrings.
Far more importantly than gifting is his fondness for the human condition. He was a dedicated Boy Scout, faithfully living the Boy Scout Promise. The ultimate achievement is the rank of Eagle Scout, an honor that only 3% of all Boy Scouts earn. Junior was one of the 3%. He was off to Europe then, to experience a broader view of the world before he headed off to college.
At home, he helped his dad become a member of a country club. When uncle, a businessowner who worked from home, applied for membership in one of the two clubs, he'd been blackballed. Neither club accepted Italian-Americans, or Jews. That injustice rubbed Junior the wrong way, and he couldn't rest until he'd done something to change it. In a relatively short time, using those extraordinary people skills of his, he broke down the barriers. Soon, his Italian-American dad was welcomed as a member.
Before he got on with the rest of his life, Junior joined the Navy in WWII to help America win the war, and became an ensign. The picture of him in his Navy whites hung in aunt and uncle's den until my 91-year-old widowed aunt gave up housekeeping. It was the first thing you saw when you walked into the room. His was a face you liked instantly.
Why am I telling you about my cousin Sam, Jr.? Because, among his other wonderful traits and accomplishments, he's a published writer. By the time he left the Navy, he'd penned his first book, "Amen, Amen." Then came the second, "Tale of the Twain," both for Harper & Row. Junior liked the work-world too well to leave it. Yet writing was such an integral part of his life that he always found time to pursue writing projects. Junior was always an inspiration to me; I just didn't fully know why at the time.
Then, suddenly, it became apparent. I wanted to belong, like him, to the world of writing.
A while back, our local newspaper sponsored a Christmas Memories essay contest. I immediately sat down to write about a favorite Christmas childhood memory. I called it, "Two Old Gents." It told the story of my fifth, and my Grandpa's last, Christmas, and the last year I believed in Santa Claus. It won the grand prize, and a $35 cash award. Aunt sent the piece to Junior, who loved it. That approval in my fledgling life as a writer from a cousin I so admired urged me to keep at it. He was, and is, my inspiration.
Sometimes, it's the people we know and love who can send us, knowingly or not, on our journey to fulfillment in a field we love. Thanks in part to Junior, my feet are firmly planted on the road to writing success.
Ah, the opportunities out there for work-at-home writers like us! Writers who write about their own successful journey recommend that we find a niche in which to be an expert, and venture into other areas, as well. Variety is the spice of life, isn't it?...and no less true for writers.
While I'm busily carving out my own niche, I also look for writing opportunities that help me stretch my writing muscles (or offer a quick buck while I work on projects closer to my niche). Writing greeting card prose is a terrific way to write using an economy of words, thereby sharpening your ability to write tight in other areas. One of my favorite areas is writing resumes. A while back, I wrote resumes for townspeople who didn't want to tackle that task on their own. It was a nice side business, as well as a rewarding one (three out of four let me know the resume I'd written for them got the interview, the number one job of a resume). Recently, I gave a resume as a grad gift to a friend's kid; and I've donated resume packages at fundraising time to a couple of causes I believe in.
But a writing field none of us should ignore is business-to-business writing. It's lucrative and enjoyable. But is it easy? Probably not...yet very doable. How? For anyone considering it, Bob Bly, a veteran in the field, offers valuable how-to's of navigating those waters. Groping along on your own can take months, even years, and, in that slow process, you lose precious time and the ability to earn good money. Bob's courses are valuable to me because they're jam-packed with everything I need to know to get started and earn real money. Lots of good stuff, including how to write marketing plans and white papers (check out the link on the side if you want to learn more).
The absolutely great thing about the work-at-home business of writing today is this: We have unlimited opportunities to write in whatever field interests us and we have writing experts like Beth Ann Erickson (Filbert Publishing), Kelly James-Enger, Jenna Glatzer, Julia Cameron, and Bob Bly (to name a few), who share their expertise with folks like you and me who want to make a go of this biz.
I wrote for the non-profit for six years, but I yearned for a steady income from writing to support my children and me. Hmm, I thought nearly every day, how can I ditch my day job and still have an income? A chance encounter with a former advertiser from my television advertising days provided an opportunity, and the answer.
Mary Jo's new hubby had just signed on with an insurance company, and he was doing very, very well in his new profession. She told me he was looking for salespeople, and she'd recommended me. I'd sold another intangible, advertising, so she expected I'd do very well in insurance, too.
At her invitation, two thoughts ran riot simultaneously through my brain: first, I can be a full-time, stay-at-home mom; second, here's our income while I build my writer income. Bingo! I was in.
Turns out, insurance sales was a seven-year detour that stalled my writing career. I managed to write for the non-profit (and build more writing samples), but little else. What I hadn't counted on was this: to be a successful, money-generating insurance person, I had to spend lots of time studying for my license, then taking continuing ed courses to maintain it; learn the products I sold, attend meetings, make phone and cold calls morning, noon and night. Juggling two full-time careers and motherhood was a tough assignment.
That detour is behind me now. I knew I'd never again take on a second career to finance my first choice. My takeaway from the experience, though, was that, more than ever, I wanted to be an at-home writer.
Newbies like I was a few years ago sometimes get lucky. Really lucky.
I landed my first writing gig quite by accident. I'd called Susan, the editor of our local art society's monthly newsletter, about something unrelated to writing. She mistakenly thought I'd called, volunteering to write for her. "Can you write fast?" she'd asked. Huh, say what? I thought. (The answer was no, I couldn't, but she moved on to another question before I had to divulge the terrible truth.) She assigned an article, a contact person, and told me when the article had to be in. I hung up the phone, a dazed but excited soon-to-be published writer. My pay? A byline.
Later, I read how-to advice on starting an at-home writing career. Volunteer to write for a non-profit, it said. Good advice, I'd thought, remembering my own experience. Most non-profits, after all, don't have a budget that allows them to pay non-staff writers. But a byline is a byline, and just as credible with magazine editors looking to see writing samples as are paid writing samples.
I wrote on assignment for that publication for six years. It was the unplanned first step (why not call it luck cuz that's what it was) in my journey to be a write-at-home business woman. Thankfully, I had a day job that paid the bills, yet, I did 'earn' something quite valuable from that first writing job: On-the-job knowledge of writing to deadline, interviewing people, focusing on an idea, working with a fabulous, patient editor. Oh, and this. I earned a tall stack of writing samples that I've sent out successfully to other editors who not only gave me a byline; they also paid in cold cash.
As writers, we pull inspiration from wherever we can find it. That includes the wide world of sports and those figures who achieve the ultimate in their field. That's our goal, too, to achieve the ultimate by writing well enough, marketing well enough, that we'll be published regularly.
"When opportunity comes, it's too late to prepare," John Wooden said. Why should that statement inspire? Because what he accomplished does the talking. Just as we'll listen to Stephen King, Bob Bly, and other writing moguls who've scored big, we should listen to Coach Wooden, who has done what no one else has done: He was named to the Basketball Hall of Fame twice--first as a player for Purdue University, next as coach of UCLA's Bruins.
Like Stephen King and Bob Bly, the Coach did the hard stuff every workday. He positioned himself to be ready for the Big O, Opportunity. He had a plan, a playbook, indispensable tools we writers need, too.
Need more inspiration? Take a mini-break and watch "Miracle," Disney's movie about the 1980 Olympics. Herb Brooks, legendary coach, mercilessly, some would say, prepped his team of college---not pro---hockey players who walked away with the Gold Medal. Herbie positioned his team to win, and win they did!
What should be in our playbook? The plan to work our writing muscles every day, and write, write, write. Without that prep, we'll never be ready to meet the Big O.
