Look who is back 🙂

With Delight I am welcoming back Author Josh Lanyon! who will be taking the 31 st spot ( meaning once in two months )

Good to have you back Josh 😉

 

 

What’s the Plan, Man?

 

 

I did a post on my own blog last week about cutting back on my workload in order to figure out the next couple of years.  Among other things, I want to buy a new house and put together some proposals…but mostly I want to have time to think and plan for the future.

 

I’m a successful writer of commercial fiction. That’s tantamount to announcing that I’m a professional skydiver. The pay is good and the view is nice, but inevitably, in this line of work, you’re going to take some hard falls. And there is no retirement package at the end of the flight. My annual income is primarily based on how much new work I produce in that year. Any and all provisions for the future have to be made by me — and, frankly, I’m starting late.

 

I was surprised at how many emails I received in response to that post. Clearly I had touched a nerve, not just with other writers, but a number of readers who admitted they too have made little or no provision for the future.

 

Part of the problem, of course, is we’re only now coming out of an economic crisis which had us all fighting to keep our heads above water. It’s hard to save for the future, when you’re fighting to survive in the present.

 

But planning for the future isn’t just about contributing to your savings or IRA. It’s also about evaluating where you are now and considering where you want to be in a year, five years, ten years. What do want to do for the rest of your life? Where do you want to live? Who do you want to live with?

 

What do you want?

 

That’s the first question and most important question. And it’s surprising how many people can’t answer it.

 

The next questions are even harder. Are you trapped in a dead end relationship? A dead end job? Did you finish your education? Do you need retraining? Do you have the tools you need to get where you want to go?

 

Writers are not the most practical of people — they wouldn’t be writers if they were. Very often they have trouble thinking beyond getting that first book published (or the current book finished) or getting that first book into print. If they’re really forward thinking, they put some time into planning the promotion of those books, but beyond that…

 

I want to sell a lot of books is not a plan. Certainly not a long-term plan.

 

Of course lack of strategy is not exclusive to creative types. Like I said, I had a number of emails from people for whom my post struck home. It’s easy to spend your life going through the motions. We all do it sometimes. But it doesn’t have to be that way. It’s possible to make big changes in small increments. And it all starts by asking the question: what do I really want?

 

Or…what if?

 

What if. The very same question that fuels every work of fiction. Except this time you’re the author and this is the story of your life.