I often receive the advice to focus on one thing. I was thinking about this and amused at just how much one has to juggle in order to achieve the one thing. Initially my one thing was developing an occupational therapy centre. Along this journey I was asked to write a book to promote OT. While working on the book I discovered a very real need for funds to achieve the goal of bringing it to print. Hence, after 50 rejections from known / recognized publishers the book was shelved for a number of years until I discovered CreateSpace and the option of pay per print self-publishing. This was like a breath of fresh air. Suddenly self-publishing became a viable option. I would not have to outlay for thousands of books or find a place to store them.
Happily I set to work to edit the book. However, with the passage of time came a change of focus and much work was needed to be done. Finally I was nearing the time to bring the book to the public via online stores such as Amazon, only to find I needed funds for promotion. Having heard of corporate sponsorship, I began to work on obtaining a sponsor or a few. In order to do so required learning the process and spending hours pitching to companies.
Not receiving a direct agreement with much time passing, and a need for funds, I began to work on a crowd fundraiser. This too was a learning curve in order to have a successful campaign. Still not achieving the desired result, I was delighted to hear about a challenge to learn how to master freelance writing offered by Bamidele Onibalus of Writer’s in Charge. I jumped at the opportunity. Concurrently with beginning his challenge I was very busy with another round of editing on my book.
The process has opened the door for me to a range of wonderful opportunities. There are all kinds of options for freelancing and with each there is a necessary learning curve before you can master the steps involved towards becoming successful.
Having started out with a goal to obtain freelance writing within my niche in blog posts and articles, I then discovered another related area that has all kinds of potential. As I set to work to read an eBook on the topic and develop a new list of companies to pitch to, I realized that there is more to this juggling act. In fact, I discovered a need to alter the movement to be a kind of dance. There is more of a flowing motion in dance. It need not be so cut and dried one or the other, rather, as you learn from one option to fund your writing of books, you obtain ideas and subject matter for an article that can be used for freelance writing. If you keep notes of all you learn, you can turn that into an eBook or a course.
In the end, each avenue to fund your writing can become a career of it’s own if you let it. However, if you work with a goal in mind, your first item of focus. Make sure to schedule time regularly to do a stock take as to how close you are to your main goal. You will then find that you can flow with the various options to fund this wonderful journey of book writing.
This post is prepared for you by: Shoshanah Shear, occupational therapist, healing facilitator, certified infant massage instructor, freelance writer, author of “Healing Your Life Through Activity – An Occupational Therapist’s Story” and co-author of “Tuvia Finds His Freedom“.