Episode 41: J.A. Armitage and Writing Full-Time With Three Kids
Writer Mom Life Episode 41: J.A. Armitage and Writing Full-Time With Three Kids
We talk to a lot of indie authors early in their journey on the podcast, but what does the life of a full-time writer mom look like? Daphne talks to J.A. Armitage this week about just that! She’s been a full-time indie author since 2017 and added a third kid to her family at the end of that year so things have been… busy to say the least!
- How her move from Manchester, UK to Canada influenced her move to full-time writing
- How she’s handled her writing schedule with the large age-range of her 3 children
- How she kept up the writing habit while pregnant
- How she manages her three pen names and why she decided to have pen names in the first place
- How releasing shorter books very quickly can work as a type of marketing
- The importance of finding what you love to write, not just what’s selling
- Her definition of success and how it’s constantly changing
- Why she doesn’t like to set hard deadlines
- Her current production schedule and how it differs from when she first started writing 5 years ago
- The advantages to co-writing and rapid release
- How she enlists the help of her older children to help keep the house tidy
- How her husband supports her writing career
- Her number one tip for writer moms with young babies!
J. A.’s Links
Her website
Her books
Her Facebook
What does “writing full-time” really mean?
Being a full-time writer means different things to different people. But basically, it means your writing brings in a full-time income.
This could mean making $15,000 per year or $100,000, working 8 hours a week or 80, writing only books or combining freelance work with fiction… so many different things! It all depends on your situation.
Just like the label of “mom” brings up different ideas for people, so does the “full-time writer” tag. If this is your goal, define what it will look like for you and your family; don’t base it on what you think it “should”‘ look like.
We have enough “shoulds” to deal with as moms, so don’t let others start to dictate how you need to define your career. Go back to your WML workbook and check your “what” and “why” sections. You know your goals, and why you’re aiming for them, so don’t compare your successes to someone else who may have wildly different ones.
It can be a noisy world, and as writers we know the importance of the words we use. Being able to say “I’m a full-time writer” means something to a lot of people. But just remember, it almost always means something different than the picture you have in your mind for it.
Focus on that picture! And you’ll be just fine 🙂
