I’ve been working with or around indie authors for a long time (more than a decade) and the one thing I wish they’d all do is aspire for more.
Having an abundance mentality and trusting you can create whatever life you want is so crucial to creating an author career you love.
Aspiring author. That’s a term that’s thrown around a lot.
This is someone who’s working on becoming an author. Someone with hopes and plans and dreams infused with their words.
Authorship is their current trajectory.
Aspire for More
When we’re no longer an aspiring author – but instead embody one – what is it we aspire for next? What is our why?
I wish when I was first starting out in this author gig… I would have been told to aspire for more.
More than just writing the book.
More than just publishing the book.
More than just wanting my books to make money.
I wish I would have been told to dream bigger and push the boundaries of what I believe I’m capable of.
Or to look at my author career through the lens of curiosity so I could enjoy the experience of being a creator.
I wish I would have been told to explore all the ways I wanted my work to touch the lives of others because it will, and it does… every day.
Your Work is Valuable
I wish I would have been told to drop the striving artist mentality and trust that the entertainment, escapism, and enlightenment I create are far more valuable than I originally thought.
Or to treat my writing like the incredible business opportunity it is and trust that it gets to grow. And it gets to be easy. And fun.
To play with all the unique and engaging ways I can entertain my readers and keep my career fresh and exciting decades later.
Because here we are, thirteen years in, and I’m still learning all of this.
Being An Author
Being an author is more than just writing words. More than just publishing books. More than simply making money.
Being an author means creative freedom.
Freedom to explore the desires of our hearts and the concepts that burden our minds.
Freedom to unleash our imaginations and inspire the imaginations of others.
It means control.
Control over the trajectory of our careers.
Control over our stories.
Control over our destinies.
Control over pretty much every aspect, if I’m truly honest.
It means responsibility.
The responsibility to decide for ourselves what we work on. What we allow in. The teachers we listen to. What we are worthy of. The way we shape our future.
We are ultimately responsible for the direction of our careers. Responsible for the words we spew into the world. Responsible for the legacy we leave behind.
Starting Out
When we first start out, we’re just focused on the idea of being an author. The deep desire to get the words on the page. The push to publish and make it all real and official.
We aren’t necessarily thinking long-term. We aren’t thinking about book 2 or 3 or 4. Or 24.
But we should be.
When I first became an indie author, I was completely naive—and maybe you can relate.
I thought learning the ins and outs of self-publishing would be easy.
I thought the books would fly off the shelves. I mean, I was the next Stephenie Meyer, right?
I thought the words would always flow with speed.
As it turns out, being an author also means riding the wave of creativity. Sometimes it flows, sometimes it trickles.
Sometimes the stress of real life hinders it all and we need to learn how to accept the balance that brings.
Life as a 21st-Century Author
Being an author means bending to the will of our muse. And let’s face it, sometimes they have some crazy ideas.
It means being a continual student – because nothing in this industry is static. Just ask ChatGPT.
It also means having the wisdom to trust your own instincts when something doesn’t feel right. Or trying a different tactic because you feel called to.
It means establishing a baseline – a routine – so you can wrangle this beast known as writing before it takes you down.
Our Stories
We’re all here because without our stories, without putting pen to paper, we would be lost in the sea of confusion known as life.
Our stories are what ground us. They nourish us. They push us forward.
They crack open our souls and help us to grow in ways we could never predict.
Life Happens
But what happens when the years of being an author take their toll?
When things don’t come easily. When there’s so much more to learn than we anticipated? Or when books don’t fly off the shelves the way we had hoped?
Do we give up? Give in? Move on?
Some authors, maybe.
But not you. You will aspire for more.
Winston Churchill once said, “Never give up on something that you can’t go a day without thinking about.”
I don’t know about you, but writing is that thing for me.
Even on those days when it was hard. When scenes weren’t clicking… and characters weren’t behaving…
When being on social or selling books was the last thing I wanted to do…
I couldn’t stop thinking about writing. Or perhaps better said, my characters wouldn’t stop their incessant chatter.
As it turns out, being an author means leaning into something far bigger than ourselves and trusting that the reason for it will become clear.
Eventually.
What Does the Future Hold?
Can you make a living writing books? Absolutely. Just ask around. I guarantee you, there are authors in your genre making it happen. And they’ll blow your mind with how much money they’re earning.
Can this gig get easier? For sure. There’s always a plan you can implement or a way to reinvent yourself.
Can your writing get faster? 100%. It’s called plotting first.
But at the end of the day, you’re the only one who knows what you aspire to become. What you’re growing into. What you are working toward.
How your author career is destined to evolve.
Only you can steer the ship in the right direction and find the evidence of it unfolding in the moments, big and small, as they occur.
Milestones Along the Way
Author.
Bestselling author.
Award-winning author.
6-figure author.
Millionaire author.
Let those words settle in your mind for a moment. They are stepping stones along your path. Some likely jumped out at you because they’re already on your radar and others, perhaps, that made you cringe.
Millionaire. That’s a hot-button word for many of us.
See how it feels rolling through your mind and off your tongue.
Does the thought of being a millionaire author make you excited to leap at the chance? Or recoil from its intensity?
Millionaire… is aspiring for more.
Millionaire is a heading that keeps you focused and pointed in a very particular direction. It keeps you innovating. It keeps you striving. It keeps you locked into a vibe that few ever dream of.
And sometimes you’re going to need that.
What’s Your Heading?
When your first book isn’t an overnight success. Or your third series flops. Or you’re so tired by the time you get to book 28 that you’ve forgotten what you loved about writing.
Aspiring for more reminds you why you’re doing it. What you’re working towards.
It will keep you on the path when you’re in the messy middle of your author journey.
Manifestation
Because I can’t write a post like this without getting a little “woo” (and if you know me, this comes as no surprise) let’s talk about manifestation.
Manifestation is a mind game we all need to play.
It’s about turning thoughts into things and making them real.
We do this with our books, right? They begin as thoughts until we’re holding physical copies in our hands.
But manifestation is at play with everything we see in our lives – whether we’re aware of it or not. We’re either creating by default, or we’re stepping up as deliberate creators.
Deliberate manifestation comes in three steps.
- You decide you want something.
- You trust you can have it (also known as an alignment or locking in the vibe).
- You take inspired action until it’s yours.
This process works regardless of what it is you’re manifesting.
It doesn’t matter if it’s your spaghetti for dinner, publishing your book, or having a millionaire author career.
The process is always the same.
First, you have to decide.
You decide you want more. You decide to go big or go home.
You decide to embrace whatever your big, hairy, audacious author destiny looks like to you and refuse to give it up.
Smaller Goals
Sure, you can have smaller goals along the way. You can reach first for that three-figure month, then four, then five. Incrementally step your way there until the next logical step is your ultimate one.
Your end-game.
That’s where you’re headed. That’s what you lock into.
Having that bigger goal holds you to step 2: Alignment.
You trust you’ll get there. You know it’s all working out for you.
You don’t question your worth. You ignore the impostors in your head—because there will be many. You keep taking inspired action and put one foot in front of the other until it’s yours.
Dream Bigger
Now, maybe millionaire author isn’t your heading. It wasn’t mine either in the beginning. But I wish it had been.
I wish I had locked onto that course sooner, so I could have gotten out of my own way when those impostors crept in and told me I was crazy. That I wasn’t good enough. That I’d never make it in this industry.
Because I wasted valuable time.
If the word millionaire makes you cringe, I want you to ask yourself why. Challenge those thoughts. Why do you think it’s not possible for you?
Those are limiting beliefs, by the way – and just stories you’re telling yourself.
Because you can accomplish anything you put your mind to.
Tell better stories about what you get to receive. You’re an author now. You can do that.
When we dream bigger and aspire to become something far greater, we rise to the occasion. We move mountains. We conquer worlds.
We become the Chosen One of our own life story.
Don’t settle on what feels comfortable. Or doable. Or realistic.
That’s for those unimaginative ones. Not you.
Fear is a liar – so don’t listen to that either.
Aspiring or published — you’re an author. You’re already a dreamer.
Dream your big dreams and manifest a destiny that makes you excited to strive for it. And maybe, it even makes you feel a little nervous, so you know you’ve pushed past your boundaries.
No matter your reason, your why, or your end-game for your author career… going forward, I want you to dig in deeper.
I want you to aspire for more.*
*This blog post was created from my speech, given at the 2023 Idaho Writers Conference.
