Top 5 Ways to Be a Happy Writer

I not at all comfortable pretending I know what it takes to be a success as an author. So instead, I think we'll chat a little about what makes me happy as a writer. A subtle shift, maybe, but an important one, I think.

In no particular order, I present Marcella's top 5 ways to be a happy writer.

1.  Writer know thyself.

Know what works for you. Know your process. Know your style, your voice, your genre. Know how your particular weird, creative brain works. If you don't know any of those things, find out. How? By trying all kinds of tools and methods and story types. You find out whether you're a plotter or a pantser by trying to plot a book or by through out your carefully laid out outline and seeing how it goes. You'll figure that one out pretty quickly. 

What's in it for you to know thyself: Trust. You learn to trust yourself and your process. You're harder to derail when a new workshop comes along and tries to tell you that you've been doing it wrong.

2. Create community.

Writing, by necessity, happens in solitude. Writers tend to be just normal enough that few people are willing to off you that 'oh, they're an *artist*' pass, yet writers are categorically odd enough to *need* that pass. Don't believe me? Go visit your browser search history and get back to me.  The best people suited to understand and commiserate with us are other writers. Not our families. Gods. Not our poor, beleaguered families. Your community need not be huge. A few other writers you can talk with about story arcs, business strategies, and writer drama will be enough to keep you from feeling like you've been chained up in an ivory tower.

3. Create accountability.

Use your community to help one another, if that works for you. If a little competition gets your writing blood going, set up a sprint room where other writers can join and you can compare word counts between sprints. Or set up a regular meeting time to write with another writer who wants the comfort of knowing someone else out there is writing, too, but without the pressure of comparing numbers. Meet at a coffee shop to sit together and mutually ignore one another while you write and drink your preferred beverages. While it helps to not always be alone, it really helps to know that someone else in the world is counting on you at the same time you're counting on them. It's common to find we'll do for someone else what we won't for ourselves.

4. Make space.

Make space in your day to day for writing. Make space inside you for deep work - which is a function of focus - which is attained with training. Make space inside your head for learning more, whether from classes or from other writers, or from reading other people's stories. Make physical space for writing, too. Whether it's a specific seat in the house, or a table, or a room, or a local dive bar. You need a place you can rely on where you can go and put the rest of the world on a shelf while you attend to creating your worlds. 

5. Be unapologetically you.

Write what sets your imagination alight. Never forget there's someone in the world making incredible bank writing about sexy, space-going dinosaurs. There's no reason you can't create something completely implausible and weird. In fact, I'll argue that you should. The moment you begin censoring yourself or pulling back out of fear over what you want to say, you begin to die as a writer and as a person. Listen. Just because you write something, it doesn't mean you have to share it with anybody. Allow. No limits. Not while you're writing. Those are second thoughts are for later. When you're editing and deciding what content will and will not be seen by other eyes.

Top 5 Suggestions for Working with Contractors

Full disclosure, I am a contractor/consultant as a technical writer. My suggestions here are partly predicated on that fact. It's a mash up of how I wish clients came to us for work and how I prefer to find and hire my own contractors as an author.

1. Know what you want, when you want it, and why you want it.
    I'm not trying to be glib. Knowing what you want determines who you hire. Knowing when you need it helps any potential contractors understand your time lines and the workload lift. Knowing WHY you want what you want goes to your brand. You and your contractor should know how the work you're contracting fits into your overall marketing/brand strategy. Value highly any contractor who can ask pointed questions about strategy and how what you're doing fits.

2. Have a minimum bar and do your research.
    I have a minimum bar - I strongly prefer to work with contractors that come recommended by people I know. This isn't to say newbies don't stand a chance. It does mean that I will be more cautious working with someone who has no track record in publishing. But if they come in and do a great job with low drama, I will sing their praises in ALL the author spaces. This is what I mean by research. Look for people who do what you need, but vet them by asking other authors about the potential contractor. And when you find someone good, talk them up to your fellow authors. You'll find that even though your favorite contractor may get too busy or too pricey for you, they'll likely make recommendations from among their friends to help you get what you need, when you need it, at the price you can afford.

3. Consider a contract.
    If you're looking to hire someone long term, consider writing up a contract. Preferably one that spells out your expectations of the contractor, what the contractor can expect from you, and what kinds of processes you'd like to put in place for managing disagreements, performance issues, or other drama that could arise. You aren't looking to spend thousands on a lawyer here. This is a basic tool created by collaboration and agreed upon mutually, then signed by both parties. Are there legal websites that will let you download a basic employment contract? Yes. It's a fine starting point. But unless it violates your minimum bar, you're not looking for a document that could be taken into court - you're creating a starting point for negotiation and conversation during a time when everyone might be stressed and not on their best behavior.

4. Good. Fast. Cheap. You can only pick two.
    Do yourself and your contractors a favor. Ask about price up front. Yes you can negotiate to a point. But perhaps go to Tik Tok and find one of the maker channels playing "It costs that much cause it takes me fucking hours." Good help is worth every penny. Pinching pennies is likely to make more work than it saves you. Pay your contractors their worth or scale back your ambitions. There's no shame in having a budget.

5. Have a plan.
    Have a plan for how this contract is going to go. Have a back up plan in case your contractor gets hit by a meteor. Have a plan for what happens if you get hit by a meteor. No one wants to live in worst-case-scenario-land, but you do have to plan for it. When things go well, you can breathe a sigh of relief and file your emergency plans away for another day. If things go to hell in a hand basket, however, you'll have road map to help you navigate while you're in the middle of freaking out.

Last but not least:

6. Don't forget the taxes.
    Depending on what you're doing/having done, you may be liable for supplying a 1099 to your contractor(s). Make sure you cover that base with a tax professional. No one but no one wants the IRS mad at them. Just saying.