Goals yes, Resolutions no

Authentic Writing is Good Writing

So as I sit here. It’s Saturday, January 4th, 2020. about 7:30 in the evening. Lonnie is home cooking something delicious for dinner, Mr. Fancypants and I just finished a vigorous play/catch chase session. I’ve given myself some time to think about how I wanted to share what’s going on for me as a writer, as a husband, as someone that just entered the latter half of his 50’s, my birthday was on the 1st (for those that didn’t know). I’ve learned so much since I gave the finger to the 9–5 office politics and struck out on my own. Some of it hasn’t been especially helpful, most has. One of the things that I have learned is that I don’t have fit myself or my writing into a prescribed niche. This is the main thing that I wanted to share with you. You don’t have to fit yourself into a mold. When I first started writing full-time I quickly realized that some of the most popular writers, most writers that I was reading anyway were sticking to a common theme. Their niche was often some variation of HowTo make thousands a month on Medium, HowTo never run out of ideas about what to write about and on and on. It was exhausting because all this was doing for me was creating an atmosphere of discouragement which lead to me not to write. I felt like I had to write “in my lane”, which definitely makes it hard to express my authentic experiences. Please don’t get me wrong, I’d read many of these kinds of articles often finding great nuggets of helpful information. The main goal when I started writing was to replace my 9–5 income. I’ve made decent money in the last year and a half, certainly not thousands a month that some are making. Between writing and growing my other businesses we’ve managed fairly well. We’ve gone more trips than when I was tied to a corporate schedule. All in all, this has continued to be a really awesome experience. My goal continues to be making at least 4k or more a month from writing. I still picture myself at a cafe in Paris on a Spring day writing an article and getting paid well for it.

Social Media tools, gadgets, and gimmicks don’t work they only drain your bank account

I’ve literally spent between 40 and 60 dollars a month flitting from social media management tools. While they made me feel productive while I’m using them they also were a distraction from what I should have been doing all along, writing. The result was always the same, a…