Being a Full Time Author
I decided at Christmas that I wanted to write full time, give up the main job. Retire.
At first I didn't frame it as writing. I framed it as retiring. That is what I told people I was doing and being able to retire ten years early is a wonderful thing. Those that know me will tell you I wasn't going to slow down, rest and retiring didn't mean what it should. That will come later I'm sure but not right now.
I did my due diligence. I did not decide to retire and write and wing it financially. I did the maths and checked all the pots and made some large pension investments within my limits before the end of the tax year. I did all of that while resigning from being the General Manager of a software house in the environmental sector. Ten weeks later I retired.
What does retirement look like for me. Not what I expected. Not at first. I planned to have leisurely walks with the dog, do some exercise and write five hours a day. I planned to spend more time just being rather than running on industry or someone else's clock.
This week is the start of that.
So what about the last three months?
What have I done. It turns out I kept wearing all the other hats. I had only retired from the corporate role. Not the mother role. Not the partner role. Not the dog mum role. Not the look after me role. I was still working on other people's schedules. Surgical schedules. Hospital appointment schedules. England game schedules. Car boot sale schedules. My own self imposed launch date schedules.
Over the last three months I have been learning to put myself and my writing first after the responsibilities that I needed to keep. My daughter's heel shift surgery and looking after her. The things that mattered.
I also managed to fill my full time author time with things I had put on the "do when I'm retired and a full time author" list. Now that time was here and the list loomed. So I thought I would give time to that, work on that and write around it too.
Where am I now? . Three months on some of the list has been done. Loads more is still there. Get better at marketing. Something I never did in my thirty seven year career. Update the website for all the things I want to do. Build my readership. Grow newsletter subscribers. Support other indie authors trying to do the same.
But also my writing is grounded in real life, real locations and real experiences so they must continue to fuel the writing. A night away at Denby's Vineyard was one of them, a gift on my retirement.
So now being a full time author is not writing full time.
It's being an author full time.
Events. Speaking engagements. Living the experiences that fuel the writing. One adventure. One conversation. One moment at a time.
Back in Crete and friends visiting this week, new moments will lead to new ideas and I will keep being a full time author in my full time life.
Have a great week,
Helen x
Comments