Retiring to Write Full Time Was Not Retirement at All

I retired on the 9 June this year. I said I was retiring to write full time. I reached a point where running someone else's company as the General Manager, really the COO, didn't leave enough time or energy to write. I was also a mother to a twenty one year old who was still financially dependent on me while at university and living at home. I was a dog mum. I was a partner in a relationship that was still fairly new but solid, fulfilling and supportive. Something had to give.

So I did the maths. I looked at every pot. I pondered for a while. I made the decision just before going under the knife for my second surgery in a year. I was going to retire and write full time. I made some large pension investments within my limits before the end of the tax year.

That materialised on the 9 June. IT and my last employer still drag me back as I go through an Employment Tribunal for unlawful deduction of wages but otherwise that was me retired.

Hard at work

Or was it?

The truth is I work as much and as hard as I ever did. The difference is that I work for me. Writing and publishing books as an indie author isn't an art or a leisurely existence for a retired ex corporate. It's a full blown business.

A business that needs IT skills for building and maintaining a website. Marketing skills for getting books out there in person and online. Speaking engagements for my Story Behind My Stories series which covers the life experiences, people and places that inspire the crime fiction series. I'm a podcast host of a take on the Story Behind My Stories. The fun, sad, emotional and interesting moments that feed the novels.

I support other authors because this industry is a constant fight against algorithms for visibility and I'm happy to help where I can. I now have a whole season of the podcast called The Author Season where I interview and chat with other authors about the story behind their books. I purchase, read and review another indie book each week. Then there's the companion series to my DI Matthew Goodwin Series which expands on my sole series of the podcast. The Story Behind My Stories goes deeper into the threads behind the novels.

Diary excerpts appear in Thai Die: How a Year in Thailand Turned into a Thriller Novel. It covers the story behind the novel Thai Die and what I did, learned and became living in Thailand for a year. I went out there to set up a business too. Pony trekking into the jungle. That didn't pan out as it was 2003 and SARS hit Asia.

Next week Connecting Trains: How a Career in IT Turned into a Major Investigation Team is out. It's a full memoir of my thirty seven years working in IT. It has CV extracts and anecdotes of working in the City of London and in Financial Services. It covers the life threads that connect my IT career to the characters in the novel Connecting Trains.

Working on my GEO, SEO, my ARC team, planning podcast recordings with people from all walks of life all over the world are more hats I wear as an indie author. Amazon advertising, measuring metrics of sales, newsletter subscribers, click throughs and KENP reads are a whole new thing.

That's before we get to designing stands for events, literature and newsletters.

So am I retired? Not in any way, shape or form. I'm busier than ever and wearing some familiar hats but also trying on some new ones.

Running a business isn't new to me. From 2005 to 2016 I ran a very successful business making memories with fingerprints, pawprints and handwriting in silver and gold jewellery. I was more retired from working and creative then than I am now. Turnover was well over one hundred and fifty thousand pounds at its peak before the 2008 financial crisis. I had PAYE to handle then too with a great team, the new book is dedicated to. The point is I was successful in a niche market with a reliance on gold and silver market fluctuations and I built a thriving business on my own.

I can and am doing the same now with my author business. Will I have the same success? I hope so. I should. If effort and commitment, time and hard work count for anything then I will.

I didn't expect to step back at fifty seven and start again with a whole new venture. The product was already underway though. Producing that product, my books, I love. The rest of it is new. Learning the new stuff is fun. I enjoy learning. Keeping my skills honed on the analysis and IT work feels familiar so I'm enjoying my retirement such as it is and enjoying most aspects of the author business.

The big stumbling block I need to conquer is discoverability. That's the challenge for every indie author. It's the part that takes the most time and the part that demands the most consistency. It's also the part that will make the difference between writing full time as a passion and writing full time as a sustainable business.

I built a successful business before. I can do it again. This time with stories.

Have a great week,

Helen x