CREATING A WRITING LIFE
ISBN: 978-0-9978179-5-9
Release Date: September 3, 2025
Publisher: Ripple Effect Press, LLC
CREATING A WRITING LIFE
Encouragement and advice for authors and writers
Bestseller lists, fame, and financial rewards don’t comprise your writing life—they’re products of it. This book will help you figure out the day-to-day decisions you need to make to achieve your writing dreams. Where and when do you write best? What equipment do you need? How will you handle envy? Rejection? Long droughts between contracts? Creating a Writing Life gives you the tools to manage every aspect of your career, including income expectations and how to handle success. Author Jill Kemerer has experienced all this and more in her writing career, and this book will launch you into yours. What are you waiting for? Let’s get started creating your writing life!
Publishers Weekly bestselling author of nearly one million books worldwide, Jill Kemerer shares writing tips, business advice, and encouragement for authors in this inspirational book for writers.
Read an Excerpt
Introduction: Living the Dream
Everyone’s heard of Jill Kemerer, right?
Nope. I’m not a household name, but I am a multi-published, award-winning, bestselling author. I’ve sold nearly a million books worldwide. You might be thinking, She must be living the glamorous life.
Hardly.
My life didn’t drastically change when I got my first contract or my second contract or any other since.
But I am living the dream—my dream.
On any given day, I’m working on three to four books in various stages. Today I wrote a few thousand words for a contracted novel, spent an hour promoting my current release, then revised two scenes in a different manuscript.
It’s how I operate. Always working on multiple projects. Some of the books are under contract. One my agent will pitch to editors, and another I will publish myself. Who knows? Maybe one of them will take my career to the next level.
What happens after the books are finished is not important to me right now. Their outcomes are in the future, out of my control.
When I open my laptop, I care about one thing. Today. Meeting my daily goals.
I have big plans for my writing career. I know what I need to do this morning, next week, next month, and next year. I’ll have more plans then, too. I always do.
My writing life isn’t super special. At the moment, I’m sipping tea in my home office. My uniform consists of yoga pants and an old sweater. My hair is damp, and I haven’t bothered with makeup. I stare into space often, unsure what I should write.
How do I start a book on this topic? How can I convey how fulfilling I find my writing life while also highlighting the frustration it involves? Most days are spent in isolation, pushing myself to meet difficult deadlines. Yet, like most writers, I persist.
Day after day, I show up and put words on the page or fix the ones already there. It isn’t easy, but it’s worth it. I struggle with insecurities, doubts, envy, pride, and the temptation to procrastinate like anyone else. The one thing I don’t struggle with is knowing my purpose.
I’m a writer. I write.
Quitting is not on the table. Hasn’t been for years. Trust me, I’ve tried to quit writing on several occasions. Within twenty-four hours, I was right back at it. The stories in my head refuse to go away.
The idea of not pursuing my writing dreams feels wrong. The very thought of not writing doesn’t make sense to me.
So, I keep on.
That’s what happens when you’re living the dream.
You slog through the tedious hours of writing or revising when you’d rather be doing something—anything—else. You push through doubts and rotten feelings because you know they’re lies.
The highs of a writing career—getting “the call,” signing a contract, holding your book in your hands for the first time, hitting a bestseller list, getting great reviews, winning an award, receiving royalty checks—they’re all great. But they’re fleeting. You can’t put too much stock in the highlights of your career, just like you can’t obsess over the lowlights.
The highlights and the lowlights are mere slivers of the writing life.
The writing life is made up of everyday moments. It’s exploring story ideas. It’s writing a scene, then another and another. It’s revising and polishing until you decide the story is ready. It’s fighting through the nerves to query an agent. It’s getting feedback, meeting a deadline, signing a contract, or deciding to publish the book yourself. It’s marketing the book, updating your website, connecting with readers, filling out an income and expense report.
It’s the flurry of excitement when you know a story is on track. It’s the burst of adrenaline when your agent calls with good news. It’s the warm, fuzzy feeling when someone leaves a good review for your book. It’s cringing when there’s a terrible review, too. It’s being wise with your time and your resources.
Most of all, it’s a day like this, with me sitting in comfy clothes I wouldn’t wear in public, my mouth hanging open in a silent “duh” as I wonder what to write. I type a sentence, only to delete it and type something else.
I’m living my dream.
Even on the hardest days, I’m thankful. It took me years to get to this point. Not only did I have to learn how to craft a good story, but I also had to study the publishing industry and learn how to market myself and my books.
I still work hard to improve my craft. I still study the industry and learn new marketing skills.
I’ll always be creating a writing life.
I don’t know where you’re at on your writing journey. Maybe you’re at the beginning with an idea for a story and no clue how to expand it into a book. Or maybe your debut novel released, and you’re nervous about getting another contract. You could be a seasoned author, feeling blah about the industry and ho-hum about writing in general. Or you’ve self-published a book or two and want to increase your sales.
My goal is to inspire you to create the writing life of your dreams.
We’ve got a lot of ground to cover.
Are you ready?
Let’s create a writing life—yours!
