I have a dream. And a goal. Lots of writing goals. But I need your help to get there.

I’ve been writing for a long time. I have published a handful of novels that honestly haven’t been widely read. It’s really hard to get people to read your books if you don’t have a big name or someone like Oprah or Reese or Jenna promoting your work. Sometimes, I can’t even give them away. Needless to say, I am not earning a living from my writing.

Before you start to feel too sorry for me, I must admit that I am no starving artist. At least not since I started working two full-time jobs (don’t worry, they’re cake jobs: it’s not as bad as it sounds). We are a dual income family, so we’re not exactly hard up for money. Unfortunately, both incomes must be earned by one person, me. I officially got my single-parent family out from under the poverty line about two years ago, and things have steadily improved for us since. Where I’m going with this is that money is no longer the issue, per se. But the time I am spending making money instead of writing is getting to be an issue.

I’ll be 47 years old in November (shhh, don’t tell anyone!), and I’m feeling the pressure to be in a certain place by the time I turn 50. Of course, this is a pressure I’m putting on myself, and I don’t think it’s a bad thing. But I have some goals that I want to hit by the time I get there so I can get myself properly positioned for retirement. I also want to write as many novels as I possibly can before my brain begins to deteriorate. Alzheimer’s runs in my family, so there is a distinct possibility that my remaining writing years will be short.

I want to be debt-free by 50 so I can stop hustling so hard. I only have one year left of working in public service before I’ll qualify for federal public service student loan forgiveness, so that will be a huge debt weight lifted (unless the GOP finds a way to ruin that for me). Then there’s the new car I bought last year with no trade-in or down payment because the transmission went out in my old car. I’m throwing as much money at that as I can to try to get it paid off ASAP because of the high interest rate I ended up with due to having just cosigned on a car loan for my son and sky-rocketing interest rates. It’s insane that I got him a 3% interest rate on his auto loan and then ended up paying almost 8% on mine just a few weeks later!

At any rate, I’ve been on the hustle trying to think of ways to get some additional revenue streams going to generate some passive income. Of course, real “passive” income isn’t really that passive. It requires a lot of work to get set up but will hopefully be worth it long term. I am putting my writing skills to work on these activities and, with some assistance from artificial intelligence, am throwing up some website content with affiliate links, etc. that will hopefully – eventually – provide enough of a revenue stream that I may even one day be able to do that as my full-time job, thus providing myself with the flexibility to write more of what I actually want to write.

I’ve been publishing a novel a year for about five years now, so I guess I’m not doing too bad. But having worked two full-time jobs for the past year, I think I’m about to fall behind on that. I have one new manuscript that is just a bit of tuning up away from being ready to publish. But after that, I’m just not sure. I have outlined my next novel but am having a hard time digging out long blocks of time from my packed schedule to really get to work on the first draft.

I do my best work when I’m able to dedicate several weeks in a row to writing a first draft of a novel. I do my cleanest work when I write fast and get the whole story on the page in a very short time. The longer it takes to get the first draft written, the more likely it will be to suffer from inconsistencies and devastating plot holes. I can save a lot of time in revisions by dedicating the proper amount of time to the first draft. But I just keep looking at my schedule right now and thinking that there is no possible way I can write this next draft the same way I typically would. Something has to give.

Anyway: goals. Writing goals. Given my current situation, I guess my first goal should be to simply find a way to continue to publish a new novel each year without any breaks in between. Ideally, I’d like to start publishing two books a year. I am capable of writing that fast and producing quality work when I have time.

Unless something major happens (for example, one of my books suddenly becomes a bestseller or a rich patron offers to pay me a full-time salary to write so I can quit one or both of my jobs,) I will likely continue to work two full-time jobs for the next couple of years. I doubt most of you are in any position to make any of that happen for me, but any little bit of help you might be able to provide would be greatly appreciated. If you’re interested, here are a few small ways that you can help this writer work toward her long-time writing goals:

1. Buy my books (obviously): I earn the most money from book sales made through Amazon, but if you don’t like Amazon, you can also buy my books online from Barnes and Noble. If you prefer to shop at a local independent bookstore, most of those stores should be able to order copies of my books for you.
2. Promote my books:  If you read my books and like them, tell people about it. Write reviews on Amazon, GoodReads, and elsewhere. Share links to the books you like on Facebook. Share a picture of one of my books on Instagram and tell your followers how much you liked it. Better yet, make a reel or #booktok to share on all your social media channels. Basically, just get the word out and encourage other readers to check out my work.
3. Save money shopping and help me earn cash rewards by signing up for online shopping programs using my referral links located at the following link: http://poormumspalace.weebly.com/take-your-money-to-the-bank.html
4. Shop on Amazon through my affiliate link: Bookmark the following URL: https://amzn.to/3JVJj5x. Any time you shop on Amazon, use that specific link to navigate to the site or app. As an Amazon Associate, I will earn a commission on your purchases when you shop using that link.
5. Consider supporting me on Patreon for as little as $1 a month to get access to my novels. Some membership levels include added benefits such as signed copies of my novels and opportunities to read my work before it’s published!

If you’re still reading this, I want you to know how much I appreciate you and your support! Very few novelists get to write novels for a living, so I am realistic about the likelihood of me every being able to do that. But if you could help me carve out even a little bit of additional wiggle room for writing, it would be a huge help!