The Life of a Full-Time Author

“In order to be a writer, you really do have to have this balance of ego and extreme humility.” — Mindy McGinnis

Mindy McGinnis is the award-winning author of nine novels to date, including Not a Drop to Drink, The Female of the Species, and A Madness So Discreet. She also hosts the writing podcast and blog Writer, Writer, Pants on Fire.

I interviewed her about the ups and downs of being a full-time writer and distilled her wisdom into eight lessons that provide a glimpse into the world of authordom.

1. The Road to Publishing Is Long and Paved with Rejection

“I started writing when I was in college, and I wrote four novels before my fifth one was finally picked up by an agent and published, which was Not a Drop to Drink. It’s post-apocalyptic survival. I was trying for about ten years to get an agent. Now, that was on and off — it wasn’t constant querying. Maybe two/three-month breaks between feeling so dejected I couldn’t continue anymore.

That’s something I like to tell aspiring writers: I was querying for ten years, and among my published writer friends the average is about seven years. And while that might be kind of a bummer, I think it’s also positive because it lets…