What Nobody Told Me About Making a Living Writing
Is it as romantic?
It’s tempting to make a living writing when you read about it. Not just writing but being a creator or solopreneur — there are so many across platforms who’re living a wholesome lifestyle. Or that’s what it looks like.
It all sounds so comfortable and cosy to do what you love and get rewarded for it.
Is it really that way, though?
While I side hustled with my corporate job, my dream was to be like these people who were selling their dreamy life. Even when they spoke about their challenges, it still looked better than a sucky corporate job.
While this lifestyle is great, what you see is just the tip of the iceberg.
I visited my relatives a few weeks ago who had a hint about my new career. South Asian cultures are so connected that if something happens in my house, it’s likely to reach the neighbours and relatives who stay in a different state 8 hours away.
Because we all have our grandmas who talk.
So they asked me what do I write and when is my next book was coming out. Because that’s what writers do, isn’t it?
It takes a while to explain that there’s a career out there on the internet, and then follows the next question, “Are you making enough money? Is it at least more than your corporate job?”
Yes, we South Asians can get a bit nosy, I know.
To my audience online, this is an aspirational lifestyle with a 4-hour workday.
To my distant relatives, they don’t know if I’m even able to sustain myself.
To me, what was a dream a year ago, is a surprisingly different reality.
Making a living writing is pretty cool, okay?
Imagine doing the one activity you loved since a kid — it feels less like work and more like play.
Being an only child, my weekends were mostly alone until I went to a boarding school. I spent them in my room, with my Miley Cyrus CD in the silver music player playing on repeat.
I’d write poetry or paint.
It’s the only activity my high school teacher complimented me on because I was average at studying and too heavy to play any sports.
Every cell inside me feels grateful when I wake up and realise I own my day. I’m not running away from work and instead feel excited about it.
I’m grateful to people for sending me so much love in my inbox and via comments. Some of them buy my products without me asking them to. Some people pay for my free products just to support me.
I’m so happy for friends I’ve made over the internet who always cheer for me even though they don’t have to.
Since we subtly spoke about money, I know all this sounds great. But I’ve been self-employed for 11 months and at the beginning of every month, I do not know where the money is going to come in from.
Trust me. I have no idea how much I’ll earn next month and from where.
I’ve been earning much more than my corporate job would’ve paid me in the coming decade, that too by working half the time. But so far, it’s happening with a series of random events.
I may have six sources of income which sound cool, but that simply means that a few of them save me when others are down.
But I never know which one.
That’s something that screws with me every single day. Even on weekends. So even though I have a 4-hour workday, I exhaust my brain cells by thinking and planning about work more than I should.
I’m thinking about work almost all the time.
The thing with the creator economy is that there’s just so much to do. There is no limit to how much you create, grow, and earn.
Now, since there’s no limit, the question is, where do you stop?
Where do you draw a line for contentment?
How much is enough?
While these are questions we must ask ourselves regardless of what work we do, it becomes even harder here.
In the corporate world, you have a set of tasks to finish and then you’re done. You also have an idea about what you can do to perform over and above this.
Here, that line isn’t just blurred, it's non-existent.
We’re halfway into this year, and I’ve released 3 products. Now, waking up to some passive income is wonderful. The dopamine rush is insane.
But there’s a way it can get better.
Content strategy!
Distribution channels!
So much jargon which goes over my one-person team’s head.
And outside of that, you’re also creating every day. You’re doing your emails, newsletters, and branding.
And for some reason, every day for the last two weeks I think of hopping onto YouTube. It’s an inner voice guiding me but I’m unable to take any more on me than I already have.
I wouldn’t have it any other way, and I’m positive that overworking, underworking, burnout, and being confused is a part of starting out.
You can’t expect to build a successful business in a year and sometimes even five.
But this is to tell you that while it's gratifying and looks glamorous, it takes your mind to the deepest and darkest of places.
This morning, I thought,
“Is this is just a bubble? Maybe one day everything will end.”
And I’m somebody who chants, meditates, exercises, does yoga, and is extremely optimistic.
But every other day, thoughts of questioning your self-worth creep in. And it’s a battle of energy to feed the right wolf and not the devious one.
Just like it’s a battle to have walls around you to keep away distractions, noise, and energy suckers.
And while writing isn’t at all romantic for me, referring to everyone who reacts with their eyebrows raised and eyes wide open like,
“oh, you’re a writer! How uh-may-zing is that!”
It’s something that's come to me naturally all my life. So showing up to work has never been difficult.
Never, ever chase a lifestyle because it looks good.
Every single thing has massive challenges — it all comes down to if you have it in you to fight them every time they pop.
When you have a strong why behind what, it just gets a tad bit easier.
