How to Earn Money Writing Stories You Love to Write

I’ve recently started spending more time writing short stories, and what I’m finding is that the more I write them, the easier and faster it seems, which makes them a lot more fun to write. And that got me thinking about all the erroneous advice out there about writing, which makes it seem that there are too many rules.  

I sometimes feel that writers put too much effort into writing the “right thing”  or writing “the right way.” It’s no fun trying to write while sticking to rules, especially someone else’s rules. The thing about great stories is just that. They are great stories. You need to be a great storyteller, not a grammatical genius.

The most important thing is to enjoy what you write about. So if you want to make money writing short stories, write the stories you love to write. Forget about the current styles and character bios and whatever else is the latest fad way to write. Just write.

This isn’t just my advice. It’s also the advice of the mighty Stephen King, who said (and I paraphrase), write the stories you love to write and find somewhere to sell them later.

First and foremost, writing must be enjoyable. If you don’t enjoy writing and you hardly ever do it, then perhaps you’re not a writer at all.

The great sci-fi writer, Ray Bradbury, put it best when he said, “Fall in love and stay in love. Do what you love, don’t do anything else.” 

I know that writing isn’t just something I do, it’s something I HAVE  to do. I can’t imagine living a life where I don’t write. Even when I’m not doing my own writing, I’m studying and taking plenty of notes, or I’m journaling or creating a list of ideas for future writing projects. I’m always learning something new and writing something new.

So, if you want to write stories or articles, write about what you enjoy and find a market for it later. Research potential markets and tailor your work accordingly. It’s surprising how many markets there are once you start looking. Begin with a Google search for “write for us” or  “short story submissions” or something similar. 

Or start your own blog about a subject you’re passionate about, or blog about your writing, or collate a book of your own short stories.

Eventually, you’ll know what to do with all the stories you’ve filed away.

And when you do find a market for your work, remember that they like to receive work earlier rather than later in the submission window, so it helps to have a stockpile of stories. Plus, you’ll have a better chance of acceptance if you submit early while there are still plenty of open slots to fill.

But you can’t sell your stories if you haven’t written them.

So relax and enjoy writing stories.

And I’ll leave you with one more quote from the man who loved writing more than anything else in his life, Ray Bradbury:

“For the first thing a writer should be is — excited. He should be a thing of fevers and enthusiasms. Without such vigour, he might as well be out picking peaches or digging ditches; God knows it’d be better for his health.” 

https://www.cheritonhousepublishing.com/books/MCFL.html 

The Key To Overcoming Procrastination

In my ongoing life quest to get more done by managing my time, I read a book by time management guru, Brian Tracy.

The book is called ‘Eat That Frog.’ The premise of the title is that if the hardest thing that you have to do in a day is to eat a live frog, but you don’t want to do it even though you know it’s the most important thing you have to do and that it will benefit you the most, eat it first just to get it out of the way so that you can stop worrying about it.

Although the thought of eating a frog, alive or dead, is a disgusting idea, I can see how getting the most important task of the day done first, can save time and stress.

He also says that no matter what you’re doing you should always ask yourself, “What is the most valuable use of my time right now?” This, he says, is the core question of time management.

Answering that question is the key to overcoming procrastination and becoming a highly productive person.

Every hour of every day, one task represents the most valuable use of your time, at that moment.

Eating the frog and asking the core question may not sound like much, but they are transforming if you use them.

Let’s face it, none of us want to tackle our biggest and most important jobs first. It’s much easier to start with small, easy tasks. Easier, but they don’t help much.

What’s your ‘frog?’

And why aren’t you eating it?

Eat That Frog

Ignore Everyone. Just Write

I read an article recently that said to be a successful writer, you must have confidence and self-esteem to put your work out in the public.

I thought about whether or not that was true. Maybe it is, but it wasn’t my experience when I first began writing.

I just wanted to write, and so I did. The first thing I ever submitted was a short story I sent to a woman’s magazine. It was accepted straight away and I was paid $600. That boosted my confidence. But then again, it wasn’t luck. It was a good story, and I had to write it and submit it.

I later branched out to the max and wrote and published a novel. For that, I was criticized deeply by other writers all saying that publishing my own book was wrong and that I wasn’t a real writer.

Others wanted to know how I did it because back then self-publishing was almost unheard of, and it was scorned and frowned upon by those who had never done it.

So I wrote and published another book called ‘Self Publish Worldwide’ where I explained how I did it. That book was a hit. I was overwhelmed by how many people bought a copy. But I still had those haters all hating on me.

I ignored them all and carried on writing and publishing books and set up several money-making websites that I also wrote content for.

I was busy writing and happier than I’d ever been. I also went on to co-author two books as well.

So was it confidence and high self-esteem that kept me going?

Maybe.

What I do know is that I was on a writing and publishing mission and I had no intention of letting anyone or anything stop me.

Mission Critical For Life

The Danger of an Over-Loaded Schedule

We all have a finite number of hours in a day, but if you’re anything like me, you try and cram too many things into one day.

I use a diary to keep track of my time. It’s an A5 notebook where I write down everything I need to do every day. And not just writing projects. I include everything I want to do. But nearly every day I discover that things take longer than I thought. Even things I’ve done before many times can often take longer than expected.

And do you know what? It drives me crazy.

The worst thing about it is that if I don’t get everything done, I feel like a failure. I sit there in the evening, diary open, rolling things over to the next day while wondering where all the time went. I begin every day with good intentions, but by midday I’m struggling to keep up.

So now I’ve figured it out. Plan how long it’s going to take to do each thing, then double it. Other things always come up that need doing, like an email that needs a quick response, or a phone call I wasn’t expecting or there’s an issue with a piece of software that needs updating.

Just a couple of days ago, I needed to quickly print a couple of pages, but my computer kept saying that it couldn’t communicate with the printer. I kept retrying it and trying different things, but it wouldn’t print. It took me almost 30 minutes to figure out that the printer software needed updating because of a recent computer update.

So, a job that should have taken 5 seconds ended up taking almost half an hour. This is why a time buffer is needed for everything.

And it starts with knowing how long things actually take, and then you can buffer in extra time.

It’s the only way I know to be able to get everything done, and sometimes even have enough time left for fun.

 

Mission Critical For Life