Stop Asking How Long And Start Asking What’s Next

There’s a ton of writers who share your same reality

I am just like you. Been stalking these halls for several years. Been hammering out story after story. Every now and then catching an editor’s attention, getting a walk-on stage then walk-off stage moment.

Just enough times to keep the adrenalin racing through the veins, right?

But for the most part, just spending day after day writing in the shadows of the wings, never getting an opportunity to take center stage, never landing in the limelight, never getting the recognition or the money that usually comes with it.

You know what I’m talking about don’t you?

Yeah, I thought so. You’re probably asking, or have asked yourself a question to the effect of how long haven’t you? How long before all the hard work you’ve been putting in starts paying off? Let me break it to you as humanely as possible. Some of us may never have the opportunity to stand in the limelight of fame or fortune.

As big a stage as this is, there is only so much room for the actresses and actors who frequent it.

As sad as that fact is, it still doesn’t alter the truth. Thousands of writers just like you and I continue to pour our souls out each day, most times gaining little or no traction, wholly lost in the quagmire of the plethora of stories and opinion pieces.

You’re a reader as well aren’t you? Most writers love to read as much as they do write. The problem is each day you read a piece from a fellow writer that saddens you. When you read what they’ve written touting their recent successes or when they write about how much money they made either on a single story that went viral or their earnings for the month.

And once again, you probably start asking yourself how long don’t you? How long do you have to continue slugging it out unrecognized, completely ignored in the trenches, covered in muck and mire before you get your chance to shine?

As one who has reached this pivotal moment in my career, I can safely say if you do continue your reason for doing so will be a paradigm shift from why you began writing in the first place.

Stop asking that question, writer. You already know the answer. It might possibly be never. Right here is where you need to step up to the plate and own that brutally harsh reality. Now is when you must make a decision to give up or continue.

Listen up. As one who has reached this pivotal moment in my career, I can safely say if you do continue your reason for doing so will be a paradigm shift from why you began writing in the first place.

You are a paid professional.

You need to stop asking how long and start asking what’s next.

Let me remind you of a simple fact here. You are a paid professional. Yeah, you probably laughed out loud on that statement, huh? You may be reading this wondering how those pennies you’re getting are going to put food on your table, but it doesn’t change the fact. You’re getting paid to write.

Just like any other professional, you are only as good as your last game, your previous story, your last project, your last whatever. You can’t write one or two pieces and then sit back and wait for the glory and the dough.

Your love of writing.

You need to always be thinking about what’s next. What’s next in your pipeline? What are you going to write about today, tomorrow, next month, next year?

What’s next?

At this point in your professional career, how long before you’re able to grasp the brass ring doesn’t matter. Yes, I could have said it shouldn’t matter, but the reality is, it flat out doesn’t. You need to focus on what brought you to this three-ring circus of ours in the beginning. Your love of writing.

I know it’s tough as shit. Just like you, I try to find a way to recharge and level set my attitude before I sit down to write something. And just like you, when I scour this site for something to read, I see story after story of other writers' successes. What makes it even worse is some of them have only been writing for a couple of months.

I’m tempted to, just like you, start asking how long before I catch that break, before a shit ton of people start to read my stories, before the reading population begins to take what I do seriously.

But I don’t.

Trust me. You have to stop beating the shit out of yourself just because other writers are getting their due, and you’re not. You have no idea how long they’ve had their nose to the writing grindstone. You have no idea how long they’ve suffered the ignominy of being completely ignored. Not that it even matters. If they started last month and hit a huge payout, it’s not going to change the fact that you didn’t.

Forget all that shit and write. Put those hopes and dreams on the back burner for now and focus on what you’re going to write next. Stop asking how long. It’s possible you could be asking that question for the rest of your life.

It’s not how long writers, it’s always what’s next.

Thank you so much for reading. You didn’t have to, but I’m certainly glad you did.

Let’s keep in touch: [email protected]

© P.G. Barnett, 2020. All Rights Reserved.