Happy eight-year writerversary!
Every June 1st I celebrate my decision to take myself seriously as a writer. It dates back to 2010 when I was starting my Masters program at Wilkes University and I decided I was going to write every single day until I was published. I had just read about Malcolm Gladwell's 10,000 hour rule (which has since been torn apart) so I figured that was as good of a number as any (reaching 10,000 writing hours). Of course, I had no idea what I was getting into at the time.
Less than six months later, my first short story was published. The formula seemed to be working so I just kept going. The goal was to write every single day because I knew if I stopped, who knew if I'd ever start up again? So my mission was simple: Just never stop.
Eight years later, I'm still going. I haven't quite reached 10,000 writing hours but I'm getting closer. I'm currently over 8150 hours and I have put words out into the universe every single day for 2924 straight days. I've had nearly 20 short stories published by various print and online magazines, and I've written some pretty good novels and screenplays in that time, as well.
I used to think I'd have to be published the "traditional way" to consider myself ultimately successful as a writer. Find an agent, sell my work to a major publisher, the whole deal. I'm starting to change my thinking on that. After attending conferences and hearing indie authors speak about the freedom they have over their writing careers, I'm starting to buy in. My work doesn't fit neatly into a box, and I've been told by several agents now that my work, although well written, would be difficult to sell. Hell, there's more than one road to the Promised Land.
See you in Year #9!