I think that there's probably an internal struggle. For me, writing comes so easily (not to say I enjoy it every single day), you're almost waiting for the other shoe to drop. You think, "It can't possibly be this easy. I was three when I decided I wanted to do this!"
There's an external tension as well. If you go to a party and say, "I'm a writer!" and people say, "Oh..." it's very different from when you say, "Well, I work for a non-profit," and they say, "That's amazing!" You can get hooked on that high. Also, you have bills to pay and the industry is very changeable. You really have to be an entrepreneur if you want to make it work as a creative these days.
But when you know, you know. At the right time, I think people listen to that knowledge and take their true path.
What is the most common question or comment you get from other writers and entrepreneurs that seek your advice?
"How do I make money writing?" and "How do I make money writing about the things I want to write about?"
People want to find work that feeds their soul and also pays the rent. Maybe it won't pay 100% of your rent today, but to be on that path working toward that is the overall goal.
It can be really difficult, but I advise writers to also develop their entrepreneurial skills and test their ideas, to make offerings to people, to try and find ways to build an entrepreneurial slant into their work.
What have you found is the most difficult entrepreneurial skill for people to effectively execute?
Probably going back to what we were talking about with the acceptance of being a writer and [acknowledging] that it's a valid career. Marketing is a challenge because you need to claim some space and say, "My ideas are important. What I think is important. You, as a reader who has 50 million options, should give me five minutes of your time to read my version or idea." I think that really feeds into how money amplifies your art, that if you inject money into the equation, it raises the bar. So that tension between marketing something and making money from it but also being creatively honest and fulfilled--that's a really tricky sandwich.
What has been the biggest obstacle in your own personal journey as a writer, and what do you think you next biggest challenge will be?
My biggest obstacle so far has been what I've mentioned--that idea of claiming space and saying, "This is my idea. This is important and worth reading."
I'm at an interesting point. I make some money writing, some money doing strategy sessions with other writers on improving their skills, but I'm not making a full-time income. So for me, I'm balancing my own creative expression with helping other people to develop their entrepreneurial interpretation of their work. It's that money versus art tension.
I'm interested in fiction, journalism, memoir style, I'd love to write a script...that's just four projects I've named! I have unlimited creative bandwidth. There's a lot of ideas, but there also needs to be a bit of acceptance that this is where I am right now. This is what I'm making today, this is what I made today, and that's going to be enough for me to keep going. And who knows where that's going to take me?