by Michael Bracken, reprinted with permission, SleuthSayers.com
Recently, I talked to a writer who felt overwhelmed. She sought advice about accomplishing all the projects she committed to while taking advantage of all the opportunities coming her way.
I suggested she divorce her spouse, abandon her children, ignore her friends, and hole up in a little apartment where she could concentrate on her writing career. If I’d thought clearly, I’d have also recommended copious amounts of caffeine.
Clearly, I’m not the person to ask for relationship advice, but my career advice isn’t too far off the mark.
Sometimes having a successful writing career involves sacrifices. For many writers, the sacrifices are simple: rising early each day to write before the rest of the family awakens, giving up hours of television each evening to revise rough drafts, or spending lunch hours researching esoteric murder methods for future projects.
Sometimes, though, the sacrifices are more emotionally fraught. Many of us have responsibilities that demand our attention—children, spouses, pets, day jobs, and more—and giving them less attention than they deserve is not often a wise decision, either emotionally or financially.
And more problematic is having a significant other, family members, or friends who do not support the dream and who do not understand the dedication required to achieve even a moderate level of success. What then?
Some writers put their dream on hold for several years while coping with real life, returning to it once their children are grown and out of the house, they have experienced a change in significant other, they have a new circle of friends, and/or they have retired from a day job.
But a dream delayed is too often a dream abandoned. How many would-be writers reach the end of their lives and wonder what could have been if they had awoken half an hour early each day to write, if they occasionally opted out of lunch with work colleagues to dive down the rabbit hole in search of the perfect poison, or if they had attended a writing lecture at the local library instead of watching yet another rerun of Law & Order.
By then, it’s too late.
Do they then wonder if they should have followed my advice?
I hope not. Dedicating one’s life to one’s art while abandoning everything and everyone around you might lead to some level of success, but it won’t lead to a full life. One should strive to find a balance, a way to pursue one’s dreams while maintaining a well-rounded life filled with family and friends. It won’t always be easy, but it will be worthwhile.
But don’t forget about the caffeine.
It’s the key to everything.
Michael Bracken is an Edgar Award and Shamus Award nominee whose crime fiction has appeared in The Best American Mystery Stories, The Best Mystery Stories of the Year, and many other publications. Additionally, Bracken is the editor of Black Cat Mystery Magazine and several anthologies, including the Anthony Award-nominated The Eyes of Texas. In 2024, he was inducted into the Texas Institute of Letters for his contributions to Texas literature. He lives, writes, and edits in Texas.
