We’ve all heard the expression “living the writer’s life,” which is generally understood to mean living an easy life with very little to do. No work, no rush, no problem. While others rush out to work and work hard for a living, writers sit at home and do nothing while getting paid for it.

Sigh… I wish that was true.

Actually, the expression means nothing. It’s rhetoric.

The truth about how writers live their lives is different for every writer, and none of them get paid to do nothing.

There are many different ways to make money writing, so writing life is different for every writer.

Some people write and never try to publish their work because they write for the hell of it.

Published writers who make a living from what they write do so in many different ways, including blogging, book authoring, novel writing, freelance writing, copywriting, ghost writing, writing stories, writing columns, etc.

Not only are there different types of writers, but they also differ in how and when they write. Some prefer to write early in the morning while others prefer to do what they have to do in the afternoons. While others prefer to write late at night and burn the proverbial midnight oil.

I even knew a writer who always woke up at 4am and sat in bed and drank tea and wrote until around 9am when she got out of bed and started her day.

And that goes to show that different writers also have different places where they prefer to write: in bed, outdoors, in an office, in a writing space, a public library, a coffee shop, or even sitting on a park bench.

What this all boils down to is that living the writer’s life means whatever you want it to mean. You can write what you want, where you want and when you want. As long as you’re writing and enjoying it, you’re living the writer’s life, the one that’s right for you.

Sometimes it’s easy to make the mistake of reading about how others make money from their writing and thinking that if you copy what they do, you’ll be just as successful. But that is so naive because nobody has the same mentality, nor the same life, thoughts or talent as another person, no matter how hard they try to imitate their style or way of working.

That’s why it’s best to find out what works for you so that you can live your own life as a writer and, above all, have fun doing it.

I spent years trying different ways of working and different types of writing before I figured out what worked best for me.

Along the way, I also made money from my writing and had a lot of fun doing it.

And I know that when I was able to quit my job and write for a living, that’s when I lived my own life as a writer.