Life of A Writer

… you sound like an English teacher correcting everyone's grammar.
… you can't enjoy a book, because you spend more time editing it.
… you carry a notebook and pen with you at all times.
… you dream about your novels.
… you get revenge on your enemies by making them a character in your novel.
… the letters on your keyboard fade within a year of owning your laptop.
… you have paper, pen and a flashlight on your nightstand.
… you pay close attention to the people and conversations around you.
… you need a bigger mailbox to hold day's worth of mail.
… your favorite store is an office supply store instead of WalMart.
… you have a desk full of notebooks and napkins with all your ideas.
… your desk is cleaner than your house.
... your family wonders if you know how to fold the laundry.
… the couch you bought years ago still looks new.
… your mom calls to check on you, because you haven't called or visited her in a while.
… you stop writing and realize everyone in the house is gone. Later, they return and tell you they went out to eat because they got tired of waiting on you to fix dinner.
… the majority of your laundry consists of gowns and flannel pajamas.
… coffee becomes your best friend.
… you read everything in sight.
… you'd rather be home writing instead of shopping.
… your dog brings you the empty food dish and barks.
… you're getting the most use out of your son or daughter's English book.
… you're nodding your head to all these things.

Now it's your turn.

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My way of "giving a little love every day" is through words. When I first starting writing years ago, my main focus was Christian fiction. Through Christian fiction, I could create characters that would inspire my readers and warm their souls.

Although I still write Christian fiction, I don't write it as often as I did in the beginning, because my other writing -- writing I do to keep the bills paid -- keeps me busy. While I do my best to help and inspire through non-fiction as well, I really miss writing Christian fiction stories and novels. So how can I focus more on this genre and still pay the bills?

Possible Solutions

1. Decrease my clientele. While that would free up some of my time, I still have to pay the bills, and Lord knows I can't write without electricity. Well, I can, but turning in assignments would be hard to do since 95% of my communication and work is done through the Internet.

2. Cut down on my social networking. In addition to writing for clients, I also spend a lot of time building my brand and building relationships through social networks. Now that I think about it, the best solution would be to cut down on my social networking time. I figure I could use some of my social networking time to write Christian fiction stories and submit them to paying fiction markets. That sounds like the perfect plan, and I wouldn't lose money! However, I have done some searching for paying fiction markets, and although I've come across a few, I haven't found many. That said, I'm going to have to spend a little time searching for paying fiction markets, and then I'll begin writing and submitting short Christian fiction stories once I've built a list of decent paying fiction markets.

Planning Ahead for Future Christian Fiction Assignments

Since I've discovered the solution to my problem, I'd like to make plans for a future of Christian fiction assignments. Instead of writing lots of non-fiction, I'd love to be able to work for people who pay for Christian fiction stories. If I could find blogs, magazines and electronic publications that wanted a writer to write weekly or monthly fiction columns that would inspire their readers, then I'd be much happier. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy writing non-fiction, but my biggest passion is Christian fiction. The market, though, doesn't seem to be as big as my passion. I guess I'll work my hardest to find those type clients, and if it's meant to be, the Lord will make sure I get the gigs I really want. In fact, I pray that one day the Lord will bless me with enough book sales that all of my time will be spent writing novels for my readers and the publishers who want my Christian fiction novels. This is not only my prayer, it's a dream, and one dream that I will continue to work towards.

Have you ever missed writing a genre that you love because a great deal of your time was spent making money to pay the bills, and if so, what solution did you come up with?

Do you know of any paying fiction markets?

Discuss and share your answer(s) in the comments section.

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