I Applied the 10% Rule to My Writing, And Some Weird Doors Opened Up

3 creative side-gigs for you to try too

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I’ve been a working writer for over 12 years and the 70/20/10 rule is one I’ve always applied to my time. The 10 part is the most fun.

Here’s how it works — I spend the majority of my writing time on work that pays, around 20% on testing out and finding new income streams, and 10% of my writing time on unpaid creative work. This past year, the 10% opened some fascinating doors I wasn’t ever expecting to enter!

This is how it went:

• I wrote a song with my husband and it ended up on four different radio stations.
• I entered a poetry contest and enjoyed it.
• For 42 weeks I invested two-three hours learning new Creative Nonfiction genres. People ended up paying me to teach them too.
• I wrote a lyric essay (not the same as music lyrics) for a contest. I was placed 3rd and won some nice prizes including cash!
• I wrote two scripts. A director liked them and asked if they can produce them in my local town.

Creative writing improves your nonfiction writing. It stretches, challenges, and stimulates you creatively and — you never know — could open up a weird door or maybe…