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| Michele Chynoweth |
How many writers yearn for the ability to quit
the “day job” and focus only on writing? Many. But few writers have that
option. So, how do you handle sticking
with a job out of financial need? How do you avoid feeling discouraged? Author
Michele Chynoweth offers encouragement for anyone struggling to make it all work
while reaching for the dream. ~ Dawn
Do What You Love and the Money Will Follow. Really?
This saying has always struck me as fascinating
and challenging. I have always worked for a living but not doing what I “love”
to do – namely, write novels. I have always had
to work to help pay the bills and provide for my family (which has now
grown from three kids to five with my new husband!)
So how can this statement ring true when I can’t
possibly take the leap of faith to test it out? Have you ever wondered?
If you’re like me, writing on the side while
your day job pays the bills, hoping to make that leap one day, you’re probably
frustrated that you’re not completely fulfilling your calling yet. I don’t need
or even want to be rich and famous (anymore!).
I’m just talking about the proceeds from book sales being enough to pay
the bills. (These days it seems the only way that will happen is to get on the
New York Times bestseller list, unfortunately by writing something like Fifty
Shades of Grey - not something, of course, that I want to write!)
So what is one to do?
I’ve tried everything – both as an author who
was self-published and now as one published by a traditional, albeit small, Christian
publishing house. I’ve tried marketing, public relations, conferences, book
signings and most recently, speaking engagements. In fact, I recently entered a big speech
contest – and most importantly, found myself hearing my own voice, in
delivering my speech, encouraging others, in so many words, to “do what you
love” and if not money, at least true happiness and fulfillment would follow.
Here is an excerpt:
“Think back to when you were ten years old. What
did you want to be when you grew up? Are
you living your dream today? When I was ten my big dream was to be an author.
But eventually my dream faded as life took hold. I graduated from high school, then college,
started a career, got married, had three kids, got divorced, lost my job,
remarried, acquired two more kids, got a new job…all while putting dinner on
the table each night by six o’clock.
Most of my life I’ve listened to other people
who told me that following my dream would be irresponsible, selfish. But even
though I buried the dream I never really lost it, and several years ago a wave
of desire hit and I started to write on the side. My new husband encouraged me to get
published, so I did. My first novel is called The Faithful One, a modern-day Bible story based on the Book of
Job. I could see myself walking down the
red carpet to receive my Oscar for Best Screenplay based on an Adapted Novel!
Needless to say, that hasn’t happened…yet. But
what has happened is this: At a book club meeting on my first novel, a man said
‘you know, after reading your book, I’m thinking about going back to
church.’ After a similar meeting on my
second novel, The Peace Maker, about
a woman married to an abusive alcoholic, a young woman took my hand and said,
‘It sounds like you used to be married to the same man I am. Can I call you?’
And at a book signing, when I was grumbling that I had only sold a few copies,
a young boy came up to my table and said, ‘Wow, you’re an author! I want to be
one too. How did you get started?’
I came to realize that success truly is about
more than riches and red carpets and that my dream of becoming a novelist
wasn’t so selfish after all. I was
helping other people. In his book The
Seven Spiritual Laws of Success,
Deepak Chopra writes ‘everyone has a special purpose in life, a unique
gift or special talent to give to others, and when we blend that special talent
with service to others, we experience the ecstasy and exaltation of the soul,
which is the ultimate goal among all goals’.”
If it seems like slow going, take heart – there
are obviously a lot of us in the same boat! Meanwhile, I’m saving every dime I
can so that one day – hopefully soon – I can quit my day job and write
full-time so that the money will follow – so I can continue to fulfill my
calling, writing modern-day Bible stories that help people better understand
God’s messages in the Old Testament as it relates to them today.
I believe we just need to stay on course, keep
sailing toward that distant horizon, and most of all, enjoy the ride!
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