My first manuscript is due soon, and it's gotten me thinking a lot lately about the difference between a writing life and a writing career, though I don't know if I would have articulated that way until reading this. All of thee social media and promotions and questions like "what comes next" and decisions around "what should the cover look like?" and challenges like "Can you tell the illustrator this hard thing or do we need to?" It's... whew. It's the career side. I need to remember it's not all about the career.
It's easy to get swept up in the 'career' part, especially when you're debuting a book, but I keep reminding myself I need to make space for the other.
My first manuscript is due soon, and it's gotten me thinking a lot lately about the difference between a writing life and a writing career, though I don't know if I would have articulated that way until reading this. All of thee social media and promotions and questions like "what comes next" and decisions around "what should the cover look like?" and challenges like "Can you tell the illustrator this hard thing or do we need to?" It's... whew. It's the career side. I need to remember it's not all about the career.
It's easy to get swept up in the 'career' part, especially when you're debuting a book, but I keep reminding myself I need to make space for the other.