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Ambition: ‘desire and determination to achieve success.‘
https://languages.oup.com
I’m the least ambitious person there is. My main motivation to go to university in the early 2000s was to have a career to fall back on in case I got a divorce. No, I wasn’t married at that time. I wasn’t even in a steady relationship, yet that was my goal. I never did get any degree at university, partly because I focused on my retail job. Mind you, the retail job that was never going to lead anywhere and which I didn’t even like that much. I did manage to get out of retail and am now a writer, though not a very successful one. Why is this? Is it pure laziness? Or is there more going on? Will I ever get out of this rut and achieve success?
Hard Working
First of all: I’m not lazy. I love working. During the years I worked in retail, I worked hard. I even secured more pay because I was working so hard in comparison to my colleagues. It’s working for myself, I find difficult. I’m not striving to be the best writer out there. It’s only recently that I’ve come to realize people do enjoy my writing, even the fiction stories I used to write for myself for fun. I know I write with a particular style and on subjects that are not for everyone. And yet, there’s an audience for my stories too. I still have trouble believing it.
Write Similar Stories
So expand on it. Write more. When I tried to sell my chastity belt story, several websites I offered it to were interested. In the end, I sold it to Readaurore.com. My husband was like: cool, write more of it. But I didn’t. Yes, part of it is laziness. And I don’t need the money. And the biggest lie writers tell themselves: lack of inspiration.
The same goes for the stories I self-published. If I had continued to self-publish and had written more stories on the topics that sold well, I would have been making a pretty sum by now. But I didn’t.
Freelance Work
Working for yourself, by yourself, is hard. The thought that my husband could lose his job scares me immensely. His career is secure, but you never know. In the current situation, this would mean I’d return to retail if they would have me, or I would try to find a customer service job. Both sound pretty nightmarish to me, especially now I know I can write and there is an audience for my writing.
Focus
I don’t know how to turn things around. I know I should write more fiction stories, so I bring in more money, either on Medium or self-published. I think it boils down to this: focus. I should focus on one line of work. This is also why my review work isn’t amounting to anything. I write my reviews, they attract some attention, but I never go that step further to really set off the business. It leaves me in a state of constant frustration. If only I did more with my reviews. If only I wrote more stories. If only I wrote more blog posts and shared them elsewhere. If only.
Potential
The lack of ambition weighs heavily on my shoulders. Because deep down, I know I can do better. But doing better requires determination and hard work. And even though I work a lot, I never go to the place that would make my business shine. It’s never enough. If only I aspired to be the best. If only I were more ambitious. Instead, I’m just plodding along, doing bits and pieces here and there. And it’s never enough. If only…
Sometimes we have to plod along before we get to the point where we find the magic formula. And sometimes we just don’t find that formula, and just continue to plod along, and enjoy it too. I hope you find that magic formula Liz, as I do think there IS a market for your stories, especially those bimbofication ones!
~ Marie xox
Thank you Marie, this means a lot to me. Yesterday I read an interview with Ernst Daniel Smid, the opera/musical singer who is now nearing the end of his career. I admire him a lot, both for his voice and the things he’s achieved (and he was kind when I met him too :p). But even he said he felt like he could have done more, he could have gone deeper and done things more profound. So perhaps it’s human, to always want to strive for more 🤷🏼♀️
I think that is how most of us creators are wired… always wanting to do more 🙂
I agree with reviews and wont be doing any more – even thou i charged a fee for them – they take up too much time.
You have a unique voice in your writing – not many of us do (see what i did there lol) – But u do.
There is a definite market for ‘what’ you write and how you write it. I think you will get there. Perhaps we should open a “motivation” channel on slack?
May xx
Yes, I like that Slack idea 🙂 All too often I get confused and desperate, lol
Yes, there is no formula. Just push yourself and work every day. Here is the formula. But this is in the event that you have the ability to do business. And you have them.
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I think you need to focus more on your writing and try to make more money by doing it. First, money is never wasted. Secondly, you will be less worried about the possible loss of your husband’s job. There are other reasons and explanations as well. But it seems to me that you yourself understand everything perfectly.