As I look both in the past and in the future of my writing career, hopes and dreams and reality are mixing together like oil and water. Eight books into my writing life, I had hoped to be generating more income and actually make more than I spend on promoting my work. There are good stretches and bad, but the constant is, I still love writing as much as I always have.

So what’s the problem, you might ask. Isn’t the love of writing enough to keep me going? Most days it is, but I currently have a full-time job that allows me to keep up my writing habit while I’m still allowed to afford things like a home, food and clothing.

As I look down the road at the viability of writing as a career, I am also looking at peripheral writing activities that lack the glamour of publishing…