Once I finished writing a book, I couldn’t stop writing. Once I finished my first novel back in 2009, I received an unstoppable dose of inspiration that hasn’t left me yet. I noticed that once you tap into inspiration, it’s hard to stop it. You finish one book then you want to write a new story.

You have a great excuse to be introverted. Writing is often a solitary activity. I highly enjoy it and I’ve always been an introverted person, so I can be productive with it. People who might otherwise think you’re weird for needing to spend a lot of time alone will give you slack once they learn you’re a writer. “Oh, she’s a writer! Cool. I thought she was just weird.” 😛

I learned what writing really means to me. When I started out, I had high hopes of becoming a full time author within a few years. I truly believed this would happen. More recently, I’ve realized how much work and funds it takes to market your books and gain new readers, and I’ve decided to let that all go and just write for the fun of it. What matters most to me is that writing stays fun. If I put too much business into it, I start to lose my creative focus and inspiration. I think of my writing as art now. When the sales come, great, but I’ve learned not to stress too much about that. If I do decide to market, it’ll be fun & creative.

I‘ve pushed many creative boundaries. I’ve written in formats I never though that I would write in! Just a few months after saying I’m not a poet, I wrote a whole book of poems. I’ve also written stories in many “genres” – from historical to thriller to drama. Each book is so different from the other, though they all carry a particular eerie and emotional vibe with them.

It awakened my interest in psychology. A big part of writing is capturing the human experience, so that means doing a lot of reading yourself to become a better writer. Stories involve people – any education in psychology, sociology, history, etc. is helpful. I ended up taking a two year college course in counseling psychology which has enhanced my writing in addition to preparing me to work in the helping field. Pursuing any creative path will often open a lot of doors to more learning for you. Welcome to the world of interdisciplinary studies! 😛

I read more books. I think this probably happens to a lot of authors. Pursuing the creative writing path will often inspire you to read more stories – for enjoyment and for homework. You can learn a lot from other authors and some stories will inspire you. I like to support fellow indies, too, so I try to read as many books as I can.

If you’re an author, what cool things happened to you once you took that path? Let me know in the comments below. 🙂

(Photo by YURI MANEI from Pexels)