For the last few weeks and months, I’ve been pondering how to deal with my growing list of things to do. I’ve started thinking about what I can do long-term, and what that would impact in my daily life. And as I discussed previously, there’s no end of things to do, and everything I do takes away from something else.
But when I shift my focus long-term, things look a little different. Playing music (even part-time) doesn’t seem to be a reasonable thing for residual income. I probably still would do it because I enjoy it so much. But long-term income, probably not. That would require a lot of travel, working through weekends and missing church (and my family) a lot.
In comparison, writing fiction novels is something I could see myself doing long-term. It doesn’t require a lot of travel (though going to conventions could happen). It can be done whenever I want, however I want, and can eventually bring in residual income.
It would require a lot of work up front, however. If I made any money, I’d have to incorporate again (which I’ve done before) and it would mean filing taxes quarterly, keeping track of everything for deductions, and a lot of work that isn’t actually writing.
I recently read “Become A Successful Indie Author: Work Toward Your Writing Dream” by Craig Martelle. He’s got some real-world experience in writing full time, and so I learned quite a bit from him. If you haven’t heard of him, he’s a big part of (and helped start) the “20BooksTo50K” facebook writer’s group, which essentially helps writers learn what it takes to make a living at their craft. It’s billed as “A safe place to discuss ethically how to make more money as an author.”
When I go back and forth between music and writing, though… I’m torn. I enjoy playing/performing music, but the musical creative process is very hard for me. On the other hand, writing is a lot less fun, but I’m much better at creating things through written word.
This paradox is really hurting my brain. I have to admit, for being a good musician, I’m not very creative musically. I’m capable of playing almost anything I hear- but making up songs is really, really hard. The few songs I’ve written were basically impromptu poetry slapped on a basic rock beat. And as I’ve come to realize, it’s the words that I am good at creating.
At the moment I can’t realistically do either enough to actually create something significant. But in a few brief years I will be close to an empty nest, and will have time to fully pursue a long-term goal.
Should I spend my time developing my weak musical creativity, or should I learn how to make writing more fun? I can’t really decide.
Maybe I should just take up knitting.
Give me your thoughts below!