writing career

Writers Never Quit

/ @thatpluckygirl

“Many paths lead to the same destination; it doesn’t matter how you get there.”

I’m sitting here feeling shame because although I have been busy writing blogs for other people and working on my next novel (I just finished the messy first draft – VICTORY DANCE!) I realized I haven’t written a blog post in over a year.

I have fallen off the blog horse.

The horse has gone on without me, probably to greener, more reliable pastures. I pour some hot water onto my YOGI tea bag and the little quote on the paper tab twirls before me. I grab it with my thumb and forefinger to stop the spin and read it. The quote is what I’ve written above and I have to laugh. Well, yes.

I’m pretty sure this blog is not my path. But, it does get me writing and it does get me thinking, and it does make me feel like I am helping some beginner writer somewhere maybe hold on a little longer.

There are so many paths to being a successful writer, the world cannot contain them all.

There are so many ways to become a successful author – and you just need to find one. For me, the first step was to start calling myself a writer. Do you write? Good. You’re a writer. You don’t need to be published or famous. A writer writes. Period.

There is a lot of talk about defining what success means to you, and for the most part, I feel like rolling my eyes and chasing that butterfly out the window. But, there is some truth to this. Think of it as climbing a mountain and at the top is that thing you’ve always wanted. What if you get there, and you realize what you ACTUALLY wanted is up that other hill? I mean, no worries you can start climbing that other hill, and maybe that’s your path. I’d rather just figure out what it is I actually want and then climb that hill.

There are a lot of writers who make their bread and butter by ghostwriting, freelancing, editing, copywriting, or coaching other writers. I’m not knocking it – if that’s your jam go for it. It means you get to stay creative and your day job is working with and for writers. How awesome is that? But it is a business and one you need to build. Like I said, so many paths to being a successful writer, or authorpreneur!

Seriously, I am not knocking it – I work for diymfa.com and I love, love, love it. I get to work for and with writers from all over the world. Unless you are financially independent (always a worthy goal) you’re going to need to pay the bills. For a list of authors who also worked full or part-time, click here: The Day Jobs of 10 Famous Writers

Success, to me, means finding a job that pays the bills while allowing me the freedom to create and to be there for my kids when they get off school. That’s the dream. That’s success for me. If I end up making enough on the books to pay the bills – great – but I won’t put that pressure on myself or my creativity. I want the joy – that feeling of flow when I write and I want that forever. I will follow that ‘time-has-no-meaning’ feeling until I croak and you know why? Because real writers never quit.

What are you doing still here? Go write something amazing. (Or write rubbish – but keep writing).

Angela Yeh is an East Coast Canadian native that lives and works in the great state of Texas. Angela is a black belt wanna-be who loves to garden, write about magic, and eat cake. If you’d like to check out her first published novel, A Phoenix Rises, she will send you cookies (not cake – she’s already eaten the cake). She lives with her husband, two lovely human children, and three cranky fur babies. You can follow her on Twitter and Instagram or on her website.

Three Ways to Ease Back into the Writing Life

/ @thatpluckygirl / Leave a comment

A few years ago my daughter was about three years old and I was home with my second, a bouncing (literally) baby boy. Life couldn’t have been better. I had everything I wanted. A loyal husband, enough money to pay the bills, and now two beautiful, healthy babies.

What more did I need? Besides sleep and to finish a hot mug of tea in one go?

I will tell you – and every writer out there published or not, ‘official’ or not will agree. There was something missing. I was journaling, sure, and reading books on kindle while Benji nursed. But I needed something more. A challenge, a project, that harpy siren-call to write would not let me rest.

Honestly at this point I thought, well, if I haven’t published anything by now it must not be meant to be, or, it’s too hard. It’s too hard to work for hours on a project that may never see the light of day, or worse, gets out there and people hate it. Gulp! Easier to just give up.

But then…and if you’ve read this far you know what I’m talking about…that restless urging to write would not let me be.

I say, give in to it. We cannot control the outcome of where our words will go or who will see them but the journey into ourselves that happens when we write is transformative and infinitely, inherently valuable all on it’s own. Creative writing will change your life. It has a way of drawing the poisons out and laying them on the page in font so bold you cannot deny the truth of it.

Here are three ways to jumpstart your writing journey:

  1. Writing Prompts. Hate them or love them they will get you writing. Here is a free ‘writer igniter’ writing prompt app from diymfa.com –https://diymfa.com/writer-igniter
  2. Schedule it in – and prioritize it. Block it off as important an appointment as a job interview or a much needed massage. Then tinker with the details. Try early morning, try after everyone else is in bed, try the middle of the afternoon. Tally up the moments it all worked and repeat.
  3. Treat it both like a sacred, holy moment and a fun play-date where you get to explore without editing that wide open space that is your inner world and the human condition all at once.
  4. This one is a bonus – write what excites you. Is it vampire-love in a post apocalyptic fantasy world where humans are almost extinct? Is it about a wild woman who throws off the constraints of contemporary life and transforms into a bird at night, hunting and flying free? Write what gets you excited to sit your butt in the chair and write. It’s as easy and as hard as that.

Lastly – as you all know I work for diymfa.com and I read hundreds of emails from beginner writers about their number one problems in getting their writing habits back on track. This week I received a sad email from a man who was told that getting published was like getting struck by lightening, twice.

I will tell you what I told him. If you stand in an open field in the middle of a rain storm long enough, you’re gonna get hit.

So whether publishing is your goal, or writing for writing’s sake – now is the time to get back into it. What are you reading this for? Go to it!

Oh and hey, email me your success stories, I wanna hear them! (yehthewriter@gmail.com)