The Exhausting Work of Building a Writing Career

Photo by Ryan Snaadt on Unsplash

As I write this, it’s been three weeks since my last day off. I don’t know when my next day off will be.

And I’m tired.

Why?

A few reasons.

I’ve been working myself day and night working on blog posts, trying to build up a social media following, growing my email list and writing my weekly newsletter, and working on my current novel project.

I started doing all of these things in order to build up a readership so that, when I have a novel manuscript ready to send off to literary agents, they are more likely to represent my work. For, as I’ve written about previously, writing a novel is only a small part of being a successful novelist.

Why Writing A Novel is Only A Small Part of Being A Successful Novelist | by Matthew B. Johnson | South of Certainty | Medium

Here’s the thing.

While I’ve been blogging, been active on various social media platforms, etc., I haven’t been working on my novel.

I met with an editor last week, a guy named Gabriel who I really enjoyed speaking with, regarding my current work in progress. He recognized that, while I need to establish a readership and social media presence, I can’t do so at the expense of actually writing my novel. It…