Tip of the Day: Piggybacking off of Deena’s tip yesterday, if you want a massage and want to save money, check out the massage schools in your area. Lots of them offer massages for the public at cheap rates!
Brace yourself as I go all high school guidance counselor on you—but where do you see yourself in 5 years? I’m guessing that most of our readers are writers at different stages in their career (just like us) so I want to know what you have planned for yourself.
It seems like most authors in this writing business have a plan. Like, I will quit my day job in X years; I will pub by 30; or I will pub no less than two books a year etc. A week or two ago a 17-year-old young adult fiction author (who happens to share my marvelous agent) got her first book deal (WHOO HOO!!) and I was thinking—wow, she is going to have such a long, fab career ahead of her since she’s starting so young. Wish I would have thought of that! But nope, I was busy bagging groceries and chasing boys at 17. I never imagined I could write books back then let alone publish them. I do wonder what this young super star author’s “plan” is. Maybe she’ll see this and answer for us. (No pressure though—really!)
But my plan? I never thought about it much. Seriously! I didn’t have a pub by this age or secure an agent in this amount of time plan for myself. I set short open ended goals like—get agent. And then just tried really hard for that. But I’m not knocking plans at all—I like them, I do! In fact, I’ve decided that I need one. I want something more specific to work towards. So, my new plan for now is going to be to write full-time in 6 years. Ok, so it happens to coincide with when my last little munchkin will be in 1st grade. But I don’t want to just have the whole day everyday to write—I want it to be a fully financially supported career by then. Really I think my plan is super reasonable. It might even happen sooner (and then I’ll just have to get a nanny, or man-ny, ;-) huh?)
So, do share, what are your writing plans for yourself?
Kristina, Miss Soon-to-Pub
8 comments:
In five years, I want one of my books on a shelf. Which means that I need to find an agent, who can then sell my book, and all that needs to happen within the next three years (since it takes two years from contract to shelf).
That's the plan, anyway. :) And I'm going to work really, really hard to make it happen.
In five years, I'd definitely want to secure an agent, get a book deal, and have at least one book on shelves.
I love diversity, so I don't think I'd ever want to write full-time. I'd like to always have at least another part-time job to get me out of the house. But I'm also open to changing plans at the drop of a hat. So who knows!
Good luck on everyone's goals. I'm cheering for you all.
My first goal was to hold a book in my hand and say "I did this." I managed to actually succeed at this. Now, my goal is to see my book on a bookshelf of my local Barnes and Noble. :)
Most of my goals are on a per-work basis. Most of them have a 5 year plan, if I can't find an agent/publisher for them in 5 years, I'll either kill it or self-publish. Haven't really decided on that one, except for one book which I self-published after the publishing company went out of business.
GREAT post. I think it's vital for writers to create plans and evaluate them at regular intervals to make sure they're still working.
My goal in 5 years? To have lots of books on the shelves, and to be writing steady. :D
PS--on my blog, I posted a writer's career planning template. Feel free to use it if it helps you out!
http://rhondastapleton.blogspot.com/2008/06/career-planning-template.html
My 5-year plan is to have sold three books.
OK, 5-year plans are hard for me. I'm more like you, Tina, planning short spurts. Like "Get new ms to agent by end of month" type thing.
But my next BIG one is sell a book by 1/1/09. Let's see if it happens now that I've put it out there!!!
Although I love the regular paychecks from my job and the retirement benefits, it is SO hard trying to do the marketing stuff and the writing stuff on top of working AND having a family.
In a couple of years, I would love to have a mid-grade novel out so I could quit working and be a full-time writer doing school visits to help supplement the writing income. I have two conference presentations to prepare for Sept and October and I want to write another YA in the next few months and I'm already stressed about WHEN I'm going to find the time to do it all.
So - I really want to sell the MG so I can maybe quit my job in a couple of years! There's just so many more opportunites for school visits at the elem/middle school level.
All of your plans sound great!
And Lisa, I didn't know there were more school visits opps for middle school! Good to know!
Kristina! One of my friends just linked me this post. Thank you so much for the compliments/congratulations (and she really is fabulous, isn't she?)
In 5 years I'll be just finishing up with college, and I'm really hoping to have enough money saved up to be able to afford my own crappy cramped apartment where I can write books full time.
My goal, really, is to never have a real job. Because writing doesn't feel like a job, you know? My parents sometimes ask me if I'm "working" when I'm glued to my computer. I say yes, but...working? Come on. I'm playing.
It would be awesome to play forever.
<3 hannah
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