If you are like me, you likely have a full time job to pay the bills as you struggle to build in time to work on your art as well as juggle family and real life. It is daunting and challenging but also rewarding. The day I can become a full time writer, I will look back at these years of extraordinary character development and be thankful for the lessons I learned in perseverance and determination. Until then, I will acknowledge how difficult this is to accomplish.
A full time career encompasses, at a minimum, 40 hours per week but in the age of Work-From-Home, the concept of being able to unplug from the job grows blurrier by the day. How do you continue to push forward with your passion?
My two biggest obstacles are my focus and maintaining a positive attitude. After a long day of work, it is often so difficult to push through on my writing or to even think I will ever achieve it. How will I find the time? I don’t have a secret solution for this problem. A lot of the drive really does need to come from yourself and your own belief in your ability to achieve your dreams. I oscillate on this as often as a fan, but overall, deep down, I know nothing else will truly make me happy or fulfill me. I am a writer. That’s just who I am.
So devise some tactics to help you try to stay even keeled. Breathing, meditating, exercising, etc. These will all help relieve stress so you can face your art a little looser. For that big daunting sense of doubt hanging over your head- just remember that every single other great artist had that same feeling. Stephen King and JK Rowling were both rejected dozens of times before they were published yet they persisted. VE Schwab still posts on her instagram her own self doubt and anxieties despite her absolutely stellar repertoire of books and success. The point is, you are not alone and everyone struggles with it, even the greats.
So I am here to tell you, I’ve been stressed alot lately and have really been struggling with staying positive about my prospects in being a professional author but you know what? I can do this and so can you. Make your routines and find others going through what you are and be a support system for each other. Art doesn’t always have to be a solitary affair. Together we can help each other reduce the struggle. For all my fellow writers out there, happy writing- you got this!
Chris Kauzlarich 