Life as a writer

Normally I would be posting a book update for the week and maybe hinting at this, or that. Instead, I thought I'd change it up a bit and do something a tad more personal. Call it sharing with the class, call it therapy, it matters not. It is what it is and very few people outside artists really get these things. From that, I hope that my words will be understood and I'll get through to someone. Even if it's only one person.

I really don't consider myself an artist, although I'm told I should. I look at what I do as a "glorified hobby" because it makes enough to pay for itself, for that I'm grateful. I write for two reasons and two reasons only: my handful of devoted fans, who converse with me on a daily basis and push me to keep going and I write for myself.

I realize from the outside this probably sounds incredibly self-centered. It is, it has to be. My day goes something like this:
1. 5am - Write, not the easiest task to do when you're just getting up.
2. 7am - get my family ready for the day: dress the kid, give him his medicine (allergies), pack my wife and I's lunches
3. 7:30-5 - Either at work, or driving there. If I'm lucky, I find a few minutes here and there to jot book notes down
4. 5-6:30 - the usual stuff: laundry, dishes, groceries, etc. My wife tends to work 12 hours days, so i try to keep up on as much house work as I can.
6:30ish-8 - Make/eat/clean up dinner.
8ish - try to do some more writing, advertising, book covers, SOMETHING book related. My wife tends to get our son ready for bed, as he tends to want her to read books to him, etc.
9:30 - maybe watch a show or two with my wife before she heads to bed.
12 - sleep.

This is a somewhat typical day. This is as easy as it gets and that's not an exaggeration. Anyone who is a working parent is just smiling and nodding right now. The single parents I applaud you.

Generally speaking, I'm also fixing this, moving that, or doing some other activity for someone else that comes with being in a family. This month has been go to my parents AND my sister's house to check their mail, start their cars up and make sure nothing is missing while they are out of town. There's also the home remodeling, computer repair, yard stuff...less of you are nodding, but you get it.

I'm not at all complaining....at the moment. (lol) This is life. It is what it is. What I'm pointing out, something that the general population doesn't really get is that art, whether it be highly sought after, or hardly sold at all (I'm in the middle, luckily) is a labor of love. We do this for the fans, but mostly we do it for ourselves. Even if I could stop myself from writing, I wouldn't. I'm just as excited, if not more, about where the story is going as the readers are. I love looking back at the 5 books I've written in this past year and 1/2 and seeing how the writing has improved, the characters have changed, the world has gotten bigger.

For the most part, I just wanted to share. I usually don't get personal on this site, but some things have come up in the past months that has compelled me to do so. Part of it is simply what I said before: I felt like sharing and it's somewhat therapeutic. There are days where I wonder why I'm still writing. The pay is barely enough to cover the costs of professional editing and the little advertising I do. If I didn't have good friends and a workaholic, DIY attitude, I'd have to pay for book covers, formatting and a slew of other things.

The pay I receive for the actual work of each book is purely enjoyment and the occasional reviews I get. It's not a OMG SOMEONE LOVES ME sort of feeling that I get from the reviews, but that it's nice to see people get what I'm trying to do with this series. That someone took the time to tell me their opinion: good, or bad. Thanks for your time.  <3