Are you ready for 2014?

Just in case you missed it, here is a post I did for Bella Naija earlier this year. I decided to repost it on my blog for the benefit of my readers who did not get the Bella Naija link. And moreover, I discovered that the post had already been republished on a lot of blogs/sites without my approval. So why not put it on mine too?…… Ok. Enjoy!

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“The unexamined life is not worth living” – Socrates

On December 29, 2013, I had dinner with Tunde Leye and a couple of other contemporary Nigerian writers. It was a good opportunity to socialise with some great literary minds and share some fresh ideas. Our discussions during dinner covered one broad subject area: the art of writing and our individual projections for 2014. That meet up could be summed up in the above quote by the great Philosopher, Socrates. We were able to reflect on our experiences in 2013, while also deliberating on what we hoped to achieve in 2014 in this chosen, hallowed field.

In the course of evening, Tunde Leye popped the question, “if you were to be relieved of your 8-6 job in 2014, how do you hope to make money from writing?” We all had different answers to the question, but of course, those answers came after some very deep thoughts. The time each person spent deliberating on the question before proffering an answer was a pointer to the fact that not everyone at the table had been taking their writings seriously.

While this post is not about how to make money from writing, it is a guide on how to take your writing serious in 2014. Hopefully by adopting some of the tips herein, your path will be led to the mysterious writing money vault.

Get a Blog
While it is cool to write for different platforms and call yourself a freelance writer, the benefits of owning a personal blog cannot be overemphasized. I have some writer friends who don’t own personal blogs for different, seemingly genuine reasons. Some claim to be too busy to maintain a blog with regular posts, while others believe social media is a great substitute for blogging. I have a poet friend who does all his postings on Facebook. He has quite an impressive following on his Facebook Page and sees no reason why he should trade that for a blog. Continue reading →