“‘Did you struggle to write during the pandemic?’ I did. But it’s a job.”
“Everybody else is doing their job, and I have to do mine as well.”
Otegha Uwagba’s writing career began with a simple venture: self-publish a guide for working women. This became her Sunday Times best-seller, Little Black Book. Since then, she has published a second book, Whites, and has written for The Guardian, Vogue and Refinery29. Uwagba became a Sunday Times best-selling author again with her new book, We Need to Talk About Money, in which she tackles the difficult topic of finances, examines the complex relationships around money and leaves readers feeling enlightened and empowered.
We sat down with Uwagba to discuss her new book and her journey as a writer. Like her writing, Uwagba was candid and open about the calculated risks she took in self-publishing and in starting the media platform, Women Who. She also discussed her experiences working with a publisher, her own relationship with money, things one can do to feel more in control of their finances and what she hopes to inspire in others with her work.
Here are Writers’ Hour host Shalini’s top takeaways:
1. Expect to be working while writing your first book.
“You shouldn’t feel small or inadequate if you have to do other work around your writing. I would expect to be working as you’re writing a book, especially if it’s your first book.”
2. Back yourself. But have a plan for making money.
“You have to balance between a level of pragmatism…but you kind of have to take a leap of faith and back yourself. Also have a plan for making more money. It was like, ‘I’m dipping into this pot now, but at some point in the next couple months or next couple of years, I’ll get it back.’ It wasn’t like I was down to my last [penny], and I spent it. It was a calculated risk.”
3. Writing is a job like any other.
“I always have to remind people that it’s a job like any other, and I very much try as hard as possible to think about what I do as a job…People ask me, ‘Did you struggle to write in the pandemic?’ I did, but it’s a job. Everybody else is doing their job, and I have to do mine as well. It’s really clarifying when you think about it that way.”
4. Your greatest responsibility is to yourself as a writer.
“I think it’s to not do it blindly, and to have a clear sense of why you’re doing it and to not go for the shock factor. You have to think — is that really serving the message? Is that really serving you as a person? My greatest responsibility is to myself as a writer.”
5. Face your finances head on.
“If you feel like you’re not good at money, the first thing to do is to really start paying attention to it and not shrink away from it, which is tempting.”
6. Concentrate on the craft. Don’t get caught up in the hype.
“Don’t buy into the kind of media narratives and the kind of hype machine of what a good or successful writer looks like and what the shape of that career looks like. It’s very easy [to be jealous] on the day that Sally Rooney’s book is published, and you see these trucks driving around. It’s incredible, but that’s a one in a billion kind of success for writers. There are so many writers who you’ve probably never even heard of who have very fulfilling careers, who do well out there writing and who are very fulfilled by that….Concentrate on the craft, and don’t think about the fame and hype aspects which is easy to get caught up in.”
✍️ Each week we interview a writer on the craft of writing and the art of building a writing career. Join us for the next one.
P.S. LWS Silver & Gold Writers get free access to all past and future London Writers’ Salon interviews.
