This will typically be sent on Wednesdays, however here’s one to get you started.
Where to start…
Firstly, I’d like to make a pact with you. Starting a second career (especially when you’re over 30) is as complex as it is demanding. This newsletter was born in the very week I was reminded by my family how important the need for balance is.
With a teenager about to sit her GCSEs, another just moved out for the first time, and a husband of 20 years somewhat neglected while I jaunted off to the London Screenwriters’ Festival, it was clear by the end of the week I had lost my balance.
It can feel incredibly pressing to know that those more energetic, care-free years are behind us, while we carry the weight of paying the bills and living the dream – churning out spec work and treatments, pitches and emails, often with very little return.
But.
We can only be successful if the foundations beneath us are solid. So for as much as I promise my family that I will be more present in and around my commitment to break through, I ask that you take the insights and resources I share in the spirit they are intended.
To be used if and when you can. You needn’t do all of the things I do, or try to match the momentum I have gained. We are all in such unique stages with unique circumstances.
Foremost, we must look after ourselves and the people we care about in our lives.
Because let me tell you, that option agreement isn’t going to take you on a picnic. And no matter how much we might wish it, our characters aren’t going to give us a hug on our birthday.
Why ‘The Business of Writing’
My writing career to date has changed exponentially when I stopped looking at this as a charming career full of quiet libraries, coffee, and my notebook on a rainy day, or long hours writing under a tree in summer. Perhaps there was a time when writers really did that. But now we leave that to the Instagram dreamers.
A career in writing is akin to having a business. And when I started treating it like a business, I started getting somewhere.
My product is my writing. The craftsman is me. But I am also the account manager, social media manager, legal department, tech support, head researcher, marketing manager, and salesperson. As well as the smaller things like catering, acquisitions, and events!
An agent may have done a good chunk of this once, but not any longer. And perhaps when I’m earning enough, I can have a PA. And a chef.
But for now, if I want people to buy my work, they need to buy into me. Into my brand, my offer. And that takes an awful lot of work.
There are no shortcuts.
These are the things I will touch on in each newsletter. Take what works for you, when it suits. Try it, adapt it, and enjoy it.
Does any of this surprise you?
Let me know.
Have a lovely week.
Helen
Next up… Why read scripts, latest rejections and applications, readers’ questions