My Dream

For a long time I’ve downplayed, shrugged off, or even been embarrassed about my dream to be a full-time author. I’ve convinced myself that it’s just a fantasy, one of those pointless thought exercises, like “What would I do with a million dollars?”

I’ve made a conscious decision now. It isn’t a fantasy, it isn’t pie in the sky. My writing is no longer just a hobby. It’s a mission.

My Pursuit

Every person I know of who has built a career out of a creative pursuit has made it to where they are through a combination of both talent and time investment. I think I have the talent to be a professional author, but I know I’m going to need to invest a lot of time–probably years’ worth of time–into seeing that talent bear fruit. What I’m saying today is that I’m ready and willing to invest that time.

Today, I am writing full-time while I search for a job in my field (sociology). In addition to working on two ongoing series (Special People and Losing Freight), I’m putting out a short story every Monday, maintaining my 50-Word Stories site, and trying to make headway on a novel. I’m honing my skills, improving my storytelling, and taking the creative side of things very seriously.

Of course, I have to take the financial side of life seriously, too. It’s important to be realistic: right now my writing is not paying the bills. I hope it will some day, and that’s what I’m working towards, but I’m not there yet.

It’s going to take a lot of time and a lot of hard work to get where I want to go with my writing. I’m going to have to accomplish a lot of smaller goals along the way. I’m declaring one of those “stepping stone” goals today, by setting up the Grocery Fund. I want to sell enough of my self-published writing to pay my family’s grocery bills each month. That’s about $300.

The Grocery Fund is a pretty ambitious goal for me, and it may take some time to get there, but I know I already have a great base of friends and fans who support me, and I’m confident it’s an achievable target.

How You Can Help

If you enjoy my writing and want to help me pursue my dream, there are two main things you can do: you can support me with a dollar, or with a minute.

With a Dollar

• Check out my Store and pick up a book or a short story. I’m putting up new stories, collections, and books all the time! Everything is Creative Commons licensed and DRM-free and comes in a wide variety of file formats to make it easy for you to read and share.
• Support me directly with a tip or a donation. I put out a lot of content for free, so I’m relying on your generosity to see a return on my time investment.

With a Minute

• Share one of my stories or one of my sites with your friends, online or in person. Every conversation, tweet, and Facebook post is a big help!
• If you’ve read one of my stories or books, leave a quick review/rating for it on Amazon. Reviews only take a minute or two to write, but they go a long way towards bringing in more eyes and more customers.
• Say hi to me on Twitter, Facebook, or Google+. It’s a big encouragement to hear from all of you, and encouragement is currency to a creative person like me. Don’t be shy!

The Grocery Fund is not intended to be a request for charity. It’s a call to action for my friends and fans. This is your opportunity to invest in me and my writing.

You’ll be able to track my progress day-to-day, month-to-month, on the Grocery Fund page.

Keep checking back in on my blog as I continue to release more of my writing, put up more products in the Store, and document my triumphs and my struggles along the path to my dream. It’s going to be a bumpy ride, I’m sure, but I hope you take the journey with me.

Thanks,

Tim Sevenhuysen