How to Be an Author With a Day Job

This guest post was written by Katie Simons McCarty.

“Katie, you are an author,” remarked my developmental editor after she finished the final round of my book revisions. “You should really set up your author account on social media. You need to get the word out about your book. Congratulations.”

Author account? Me, an author? I thought to myself. I am many things—a mom, a sister, a daughter, a friend. Also, I have my day job as a sales rep! An author? No, I am not an author. I just like to write and tell stories. I’m a working mom with a day job.

“Katie, you are an author,” the words repeated over and over in my mind.

I pondered this new part of my identity. And yes, my developmental editor was correct: I am an author.

• I am an author who wrote a book on nights and weekends while I juggled a career and motherhood.

• I am an author who wrote a book for five to ten hours a week (sometimes fifteen to twenty hours a week when creativity struck).

• I am an author who wrote a book over the course of years, not weeks or months.

• I am an author who has a day job!

I wrote my book, Infinite Miracles, about my experience as a NICU mom. The book was written in the immediate aftermath of NICU when the stories, memories, and feelings were still fresh in my mind and heart. It was a frenzy of fragmented journal entries, recollected conversations, and notes about his medical procedures and progress. At times, I posted my writings that felt appropriate and comfortable to share with others. After a few social media posts, I received a direct message, “Katie, you have something here. You need to tell your story.” This person became my developmental editor.

Then, I got busy. I had a medically fragile baby, part-time work, and lots of emotional healing from such a traumatic experience. The book sat idle, year after year.

Finally, after several years, the signs and signals to finish Infinite Miracles could no longer be ignored. This book was calling me. And my story had to be told. But now, I had bigger obstacles than before: single momhood (due to divorce) and a challenging, rigorous day job. Why is this book calling me now? Now, when I’m busier than ever? But the signs and signals persisted harder. The book had to be completed.

How did I write a book and become an author when my “real job” is a working mom? Here are three things that made me an author:

Time Management

I worked on my book five to twenty hours a week. I had to work my day job for forty hours a week. I am a mom right after work. So, I wrote at night. And I am not a night owl! I prefer going to bed around ten p.m. and waking up around six a.m. So, I’m not an early bird either! So, how did I do this? I created a plan.

I am a former marathon runner and created a writing schedule that was similar to a training schedule. In marathon running, you cannot do a long run every day. You have to plan for different types of runs—sprints, mid-length, and long runs. It’s very similar to writing. I planned to write at least two nights a week, staying up later than I usually do. And then, the following nights, I would make sure to catch up on sleep so I could write on subsequent nights. I kept this plan for the writing, editing, and marketing processes. (There’s a lot of work, post-writing, to get your book seen and sold!)

You don’t have to follow my time-management plan. But if you want to be an author with a day job, you should plan a schedule that works for your day job, your home life, and your body rhythms.

Discipline

On my designated writing nights, I typically wrote for two to three hours a night and always made sure to go to bed at or before midnight. There were nights when the creativity was bursting and the words flew onto the pages and I would write beyond my designated three hours. But I was disciplined about going to bed before midnight because I don’t function well with little sleep, especially because I have a day job and young children. There were times that I wasn’t feeling it and skipped a night of writing. But this wasn’t often. I made sure that my “skip nights” were infrequent. And as the book progressed and other people—editors, book cover designer, typesetter—became part of the publishing process, the discipline to stay on track had more consequences. If I fell behind, I could possibly lose my place in their schedule and have to pay an additional deposit. Discipline had a whole new meaning once it involved other people’s time, our working relationship, and my money.

This may seem counterintuitive, but writing became more fun because of my discipline. I actually looked forward to writing because I didn’t do it all day, every day!

Self-Belief

This may have been one of my biggest obstacles in writing a book and becoming an author. There were stubborn thoughts in my head. You weren’t an English major. You didn’t go to school for writing. Why are you doing so much extra work? Besides my family and friends, who cares about my book? It took a lot of effort to swat away these negative thoughts and believe in myself and my story and my book. Once I got rolling with the book, I had other members of the publishing team who encouraged and supported me. This helped a lot! And at my core, I humbly hope my book offers comfort to NICU families and provides insight and empathy to those who never endured NICU.

So, when people ask what I do, I now proudly include author.

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Katie Simons McCarty grew up in Massachusetts. She attended the College of the Holy Cross and earned her master’s degree from Mercy College through the New York City Teaching Fellows. Working as an educator and in educational publishing, Katie lived in Boston, New York City, and Denver. Katie now lives in Massachusetts and is a proud hockey mom of two sons.

Infinite Miracles is Katie’s debut memoir. It comes out 9/30/24 and is available for pre-order now.