the craft. evaluating the yes.

As a writer, you are likely never short on ideas. Most people who write literally live in their heads. Which can sometimes make focusing a challenge. Also, writing tends to be a field where in order to make a sustainable living, you kind of have to have a few things stewing at once.

We’re all juggling a lot. Whether it’s our families, a full-time gig, multiple writing projects, etc. But this year, I’ve been thinking a lot about not spreading myself too thin. Maybe it was the jarring nature of the pandemic, but I just don’t want to ever be as busy as I was pre-COVID. This doesn’t mean that I don’t have ambition, it means I have gotten a lot more selective about how I spend my time.

Right now, I am working on finishing up my book to get it to print. And that is all encompassing with a lot of tight deadlines attached to it. And even though every week, I seem to be thinking of pitches, I have to keep reminding myself that I simply don’t have the capacity. And that sucks but it’s the truth and I have to embrace the current season I’m in which only allows time for my full-time gig, finishing this book, and working on the next one.

So this week, I wanted to talk a little bit about how I analyze writing projects to help myself prioritize. There are never any hard and fast rules here. But ultimately a few questions that I ask myself when either being presented with a new opportunity or thinking about whether I should pursue something.

Here’s the rubric:

Does it pay?

Specifically, if you are a full-time writer, this question has to be one of the first. Personally, I still work full-time, so I can be a little more selective about projects. But when you are counting on writing to pay for real life bills, you can’t be shy about asking this first and foremost.

I am not a person who doesn’t believe in writing for free. How else do you get experience? But I think once you’re at a certain level, with all the other things that you have on your plate, this needs top billing. And then it’s like, how much does it pay? I remember when I first started I was just excited to be paid to write. It felt surreal to be paid for something that came fairly easy to me. I think my first contract gig I made about $50 a piece. At that time, I simply wanted to write enough pieces to cover my car note. That was the goal each month. But then I got introduced to being paid $1/word. Lol. I also say “how much does it pay?” because I’ve taken on projects for minimal amounts of money and it honestly was not worth my time in the end. Which brings me to the next thing.

Is it worth my time?

You have a lot going on! Is the pay consummate with the other things in your life that may suffer as a result of you working on this project? Writing a book has definitely made me ignore my husband a few days out of the week. But I did at least have a cash advance that contributes to my family in addition to taking something away. So, totally worth it. Ask yourself, what am I giving up to do this?

Does it increase my visibility?

Best believe when the time comes to promote my book, I will likely be taking on a lot more than I’m willing to now. We need to earn out, okay? We like to make jokes about how we can’t eat exposure, but let me tell you something, have you ever been reposted by a popular outlet or mentioned by a celeb? Believe me, it helps! Sometimes things aren’t paid, but if Oprah asks me to do anything, guess who will be there? I would SPEND money to be associated with anything Oprah does and that’s just the reality.

What’s the deadline?

Right now, I have things due for my book. So I can’t think about much else. What if I pitch something and they say yes and want the piece in two weeks? It wouldn’t work. So deadlines are a huge factor as well. If it’s something I don’t have to turn in for three months, then great. I know that by then my schedule will be more open. Someone asked me to do something recently that’s around the time I’ll be moving. I had to decline. I don’t want to have to think about anything other than moving when the time comes.

How does this help my long-term vision for my career?

I was talking to a friend of mine that also writes and I said, “Man, I really need to get some more bylines.” His response? “Well most of the people I work with are literally just trying to get to the book deal. You’re there sis!” It doesn’t mean that getting bylines are great or that I won’t work on pitching more in the future. But right now, I’m doing the work I want to do. I’m finishing my debut freaking novel! That was literally the dream and I hope to be able to write more novels after this one. Sometimes, we get too caught up in what our friends are doing or announcements we see on Twitter. What is your goal? Maybe it’s to get the staff writing job, or to sell a script or get that cover story. Whatever your goal, make sure you are saying yes to the things that will get you there. How does this serve me? Yes, we get to be that selfish about it sometimes.

Considering these things help me be able to use no as a complete sentence. I also saw somewhere that Elaine Welteroth said “If it’s not a hell yes, it’s a no.” At this point in my life that’s kind of how I feel about it. If it’s not something that’s going to propel my career or community to the next level, I just don’t have the time right now.

I promise it won’t make you a bad person to evaluate what’s for you and what’s not. And depending on where you are in your career, sometimes you do have to say yes to a lot more. We have all been there! But it will bring you peace to know that you are doing things in alignment with who you want to be as a writer.

Any other questions you ask yourself when trying to evaluate your yes?