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Diversity is a hot topic within the literary world. As a teacher of Gender and Post-Colonial Studies, the question of diversity and its representation within literature is at the forefront of everything I teach, read, and write. Even though the larger part of the canon is still made up of white heterosexual men who write about other white heterosexual men, things are gradually shifting. Self-publishing is doing a lot to alter the gender dynamic: more women are successfully self-published than men, and I have high hopes for self-publishing to open the way for non-white and non-heterosexual writers as well. Next to that, more writers are becoming increasingly aware of the necessity to include a more diverse array of characters in their work.

This last issue is the focus of my new blog series on Writing Diversity.

Each month, I will address the complexity behind the portrayal of diverse characters in our work by diving deeply into a variety of topics, including representation, tokenism, gender, race/ethnicity, sexuality, and so on. This month, I discuss the subject of ‘essentialism’, from what essentialism is to why it is problematic to attribute our characters with essentialist traits.

What is essentialism?

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In the following weeks, I’ll be shining a light on the idea of being a “prolific” writer. Today, I will share the third question I ask when trying to figure out what my clients want from their writing – What is a realistic goal for YOU for NOW?

Figure out your SHORT-TERM goals as well as your LONG-TERM goals

Being clear on your personal goal is great. Knowing what you want to achieve in the long run will provide much-needed focus and enable you to steer your determination in the right direction. But what if that personal goal is a long way down the road from where you are now? How do you get to that point without constantly being frustrated that you aren’t there yet?

The third question I always ask is: What goal is realistic for YOU for NOW?

Where it’s excellent to have clear goals in mind for the future, these goals are long-term, and not short-term. Yet, most of us find ourselves frustrated being where we ARE and not where we want to BE. And when we are frustrated about our own process, we tend to start comparing ourselves to others.

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In the following weeks, I’ll be shining a light on the idea of being a “prolific” writer. Today, I will share the second question I ask when trying to figure out what my clients want from their writing – What does “making a living” mean to  you?

Figure out YOUR financial goal

There are so so many articles out there that will tell you about writers who managed to start earning a 6-figure income through their writing, and how you yourself can become as successful within the next 2 to 5 years. Earning that much money through your writing sounds absolutely fabulous, but do you really need that kind of money? Is that truly a goal you have to set for yourself? Or is it far from what you need?

We all know that there are particular standards that differ per country/culture as to what making a living amounts to. There are numbers we look up to, numbers we look down upon, and numbers we would be ok with. Often, however, the numbers we would be ok with are higher than we would need to live our lives comfortably enough (which is the basic meaning of making a living, after all).

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If you want to become a writer and make a living as a writer, it is important to write more than one book. It’s also considered an absolute necessity to write these books at a certain interval, so that your readers don’t forget about your very existence. I bet this doesn’t come as a surprise.

However, if you’re new to the playing field and go online, searching for keywords such as ‘how to become a writer?’, ‘writing tips and tricks’, and ‘how to make a living as a writer?’, you might notice (actually, it’s quite hard not to notice) how much emphasis there is these days on being prolific— especially so if you find yourself in the world of self- or Indie publishing.

Don’t get me wrong, I’ve fallen in love with Indie publishing a long time ago and there’s no community I’d rather be in, but that doesn’t take away the fact that there is enormous emphasis on how many words you write each day, how many novels you intend to publish in the next year, whether you made it through NaNoWriMo, and so on.Read More →