It's that Time of Year......
- Jackie Sharp
- Jan 5
- 3 min read
Every year my New Year’s resolution is to not make a New Year’s resolution. Making plans to lose weight, get fit and be more productive in the depths of dreary winter has never worked for me. Or, should I say, I have never had the personal self -discipline to work at succeeding.
2025 is different. It has to be.
In December, I was laid off from my “real” job. In a few days I will be 57, and it’s unlikely that I’ll find employment in my field.
In the back of my mind, I imagined that writing crime novels would be an interesting and fulfilling way to earn holiday cash in my retirement. Doing something I love, and traveling on the proceeds – brilliant!
But now, writing will be my full -time job. It will pay the bills. And there is nothing that focuses the mind more that an upcoming mortgage payment.
My casual attitude to planning, budgeting, deadlines and goals requires an adjustment.
Luckily, I have had time to prepare, and I have already implemented some changes.
Should you be in a similar position, or maybe you are anxious to swap out a boring nine-to-five for a creative (paying) endeavour – here are a few tips that have helped me so far, and some actions that I’ll be taking over the next twelve months.
Mindset Adjustment.
My writing will no longer be a hobby, or part-time activity that just happens to make me some cash. It will be a full-time business, and therefore I need to invest time, energy and start-up funds to make the business profitable.
I do not (and cannot) subscribe to the “starving artist” theory – i.e it is necessary to suffer in poverty in order to create great works. Absolute nonsense!
Budgeting and Planning.
I can’t succeed unless I publish more books. That requires planning. Not only do I have to write them, I have to get them edited, and book covers designed. Then I have to market the books to get them to readers. All of this needs money and scheduling.
But being a full-time author is like every other business. The product must be the best it can be, and that requires investment and professional “packaging”.
Learning and Experimenting.
I don’t know what I don’t know. So I have to learn. Of course, wise people learn from other’s mistakes, so I am constantly researching, reading and listening to industry podcasts – the same as I have done throughout my working life, regardless of which sector I was employed in.
I will also have to lean into failure. Not everything I do will succeed, but I must be open minded enough to learn from my mistakes, and persistent enough to keep going.
Using all available tools.
The publishing industry is being up-ended by new technologies – again! In fact, publishing has been constantly evolving since the introduction of KDP and self-publishing. When I write my first book, back in 1996, it was almost guaranteed it would not get published, given the trad publishing barriers I would need to penetrate.
Since the introduction of KDP and the ease of self-publishing, there are a plethora of tools and technologies to choose from, to help an author entrepreneur – including AI.
The thing is, I don’t need ALL of them. It’s worth keeping in mind that sexy software won’t write the book.
The best tool I have? My new comfortable desk chair – with my butt firmly in it!
I hope you will join me on my full-time publishing journey. The Murder School Blog will be publishing twice a week – one writing “craft” article on Wednesday and one for the business side of things on Sunday.
If you’d like to get all the blog posts once a month, plus additional resources, subscribe to The Murder School newsletter which comes out on the 1st of each month ( you will find the form on the Murder School page) AND download my new "Plot Twist" digital flashcards to help you create page -turning suspenseful crime novels - Absolutely FREE (at the moment).
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