I Failed For Years to Make a Living Through My Writing

Here’s what I was doing wrong and how I finally cracked it.

I’ve always dreamed of being a writer — sharing my ideas, weaving intricate stories, inspiring millions of people with my words.

For years I tried (and failed) to make a living as a writer.

This year, finally, I’ve cracked it.

I started this year with a new job as a full-time staff writer for a copywriting agency, before (after a Covid-redundancy) moving into freelancing. There’s been ups and downs, but I’m so proud to have finally been able to make writing my full-time job.

Even just a few years ago I was making so many mistakes in my mindset, approach to writing, and actual writing practice.

My writing wasn’t necessarily terrible, I’ve always had a knack for it, but I know now that in order to make a living writing I needed much more than just that.

The secret to cracking full-time writing work, and now succeeding as a freelancer, has been more about addressing my mindset and attitude, which enabled my writing to improve, and everything else flowed from there.

In my early 20’s, I was living in Lhasa, the capital city of Tibet.

“What a perfect place to start my writing career,” I thought. “I can be a travel writer and share all the wonderful experiences I have here.”

So I started writing some observational stories and approached a couple of travel websites to see if they wanted my work.

Here was my first big naivety — I look back in shame now at the first email I sent to the editor of a travel website:

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