Full-Time Job? I Wish.

There was once a time when my writing thrived. I was writing every single day, working on multiple projects at once, publishing three books within one year, and loving how passionate I was about the written and read word. Being self-published, and a writer in general, is more than a full time job. There's the writing itself, that takes up more time than you could ever imagine; editing, storyboarding and brainstorming plots, rereading, rewriting, marketing, cover designing, beta-ing, rewriting (again...) and still trying to come up with a project and story that you feel is worth telling.

Unfortunately, writing as a self-published author doesn't pay like a full time job no matter how much I would love to make this my only focus. Instead of doing the creative process all day, almost every day... I'm struggling to make it by with an actual full time job as a store manager for a retail store in the mall. This requires about fifty hours a week of work. I get up in the morning, work for eight or so hours, come home to eat dinner and sleep before doing it all over again. When I do have free time, I’ve been using it to see my friends and date and work on improving my house.

Where do adults find the time to be creative and love their passions? It seems like a battle that’s hard to balance and win. I’ve stopped attending the Wasatch Writers Fellowship and stepped down from being on the leadership team in order to focus on work and my social life. But even before I stepped away for a break, I wasn’t writing when I went to the meetups and I wasn’t enjoying my time on the computer staring at yet another unfinished draft. I feel such a huge disconnect from who I enjoyed being as a writer and I’m struggling to find my way back to that spot where I was writing every day and thriving in what I love.

The first step in my move to Bring Back the Magic of my writing was creating this website. I’ve needed one for quite some time instead of relying on only Facebook and Instagram for my professional site. Like my books, I created this myself with my own images, my own time, and my own passion. It will inevitably change over the course of time, but I’m very proud for accomplishing a goal I’ve had since I first published Swallow.

I feel like the best way to get into anything, especially something you’ve been passionate about before, is to take it in baby-steps. This first step is done. Now, it’s onto the steps of taking some author portrait photos, blogging once a week, writing in a notebook every day, ordering more copies of my books, and going to events in the future where I can get my name and my art out there for the world of book lovers.

There’s never a bad time to get into something you’re interested in. It doesn’t have to be an old hobby or passion either. The world is vast and hard and there’s a lot of things in life that will try to make you push that desire to the side. But taking it one step at a time can start the fire (again). Try not to fear failure even though that’s a reasonable thing to be fearful of. I’m trying to embrace the possibility of where my writing can go and how I can enrich my life through it once again. I hope reading this has given you a little spark that you can too.

-Jayna