Why did I become a writer?

Published: Sep 14, 2024 by C.S. Rhymes

There has been a lot of discussion on Threads recently about becoming a writer, but don’t give up your day job. I have seen a lot of arguments from all sides, some people saying they became a successful full time writer, others saying they would never give up their job, then there are others who became writers full time then went back to another job. Writing has always been a hobby for me, but this discussion has made me think more about why I write.

Let’s go back to the beginning

Who doesn’t love a bit of a backstory? I wrote my first book back in 2014 called How NOT to make a Website.

I would spend all day at my job writing code and having technical discussions. One morning I woke up and realised that the spark of creativity inside me was slowly fading. Working on a website for me was not much fun anymore.

My wife had bought herself a Kindle and it inspired me to try something new and write an ebook that I could self-publish. I have been a web developer for many years and had heard the phrase ‘write what you know’, so I took that literally and wrote a book about making websites.

I really enjoyed the feeling of creativity and getting something out there into the wide world really boosted my confidence. Being a bit of a gadget geek, I then decided to write a book about smartphones to help teach my parents how to use their phones.

But then things got really tricky

I was wrapped up in a feeling of self-confidence thinking I could do anything, so I started writing a fiction book. It started off well, but the writing pace slowed down and the fun slowly ebbed away. I found other things I’d rather be doing with my time and when I sat down to write I realised I had forgotten where I was up to and what I wanted to happen next.

This lasted for around 5 years. Every now and then I would open up the manuscript and read it, but all I could see was there was so much work that still needed to be done.

I didn’t have a plan and was overwhelmed by self-doubt. Who was I to be writing a creative fiction book when all I knew was about programming and logic?

Then one day in 2020 we were suddenly in lockdown. I was still working full time but no longer had the craziness of the morning and evening commutes as I was lucky enough to be able to work from home, which gave me some additional time each day.

Having something unfinished that I had spent so much time on was getting to me. I needed to complete it and get it over the finish line.

I decided to make a copy of the manuscript and call it v2. This gave me a feeling that I could do whatever I wanted to it now as the original would still be there, but this new piece is something new to work on. I heavily edited what was there and brought something that was originally like a bramble bush with branches going in every direction and pruned it into a more manageable shape.

I then released the book out into the wild through Amazon self-publishing. I had spent so many hours working on it over the years that I wanted to share it, but I also wanted to be free of it so that I could draw a line under it and move on.

Discovering Little-Astwick

After that previous book and the years of toil and torment, I honestly thought that I would never write another book ever again. But one day I went for a walk and an idea popped into my head. It was a small idea about an amateur detective solving a mystery.

When I got home, I opened up a new document and made some bullet points for the basic plot, saved it and then closed the document. The experience of the last book still weighed heavily on me and I didn’t have the confidence to start something new.

A week went by and I realised that I was still thinking about the story and still having ideas about how it could work. I opened up the document and added a few more bullet points, then reordered a few, then edited them a bit more.

When I was done I read through the bullet points and finally thought to myself, this might just work.

I thought back on the previous experience and thought this time I would do things differently. I set myself a tight deadline of six months so I would get it done, but also decided that it didn’t need to be a full length novel. It could be as long as it ended up being. This let me focus on the story and allow things to move fast and let the action flow.

If you haven’t read Trouble at the Church then you might be surprised to know that the whole story takes place in a single day!

Reigniting the spark

Getting the book done and released so fast gave me great satisfaction. It made me remember why I enjoyed writing. It was all about telling a story.

As I was writing the first book, I kept note of a few ideas that were outside the scope of ‘Trouble at the Church’. I could have tried to fit more in, but instead I decided to focus on the self imposed deadline and keep the book fast paced.

This made me realise that ‘Trouble at the Church’ was just the beginning. This could become a series.

I followed the same practice that I had when planning the first book, creating a list of bullet points and reordering and editing them until I was happy with the new plot. Before I knew it I was writing the second book in the series.

Grave concern at the Manor was released at the beginning of September.

Continuing to write

Going back to the initial discussion at the start of this post about whether to become a full time writer or not, I don’t know if I will ever be able to become a full time writer from the financial side of things, but what I do know for sure is that I want to keep writing!

It is not easy balancing a full time job, with family commitments and writing, but I really enjoy writing and telling stories.

I am now in the process of writing the third book in the series, but I am deliberately taking it a bit slower. I have realised that there are only so many hours in the day and that you need time off to be able to recover, both physically and mentally. I am trying to work compressed hours to give myself a dedicated window for writing each week so that the writing is sustainable over a long time.

Hopefully this will lead to a consistent output in future which will help both me and readers know what to expect in future.

Photo by Suzy Hazelwood on StockSnap