Weekly Writers: Pay Yourself First

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Pay Yourself First

Before becoming a professional writer, back when I worked full-time as a librarian, I knew pretty much what my income would be every month. It was regular. So I would transfer a fixed amount into the account used to pay bills, a bit to savings, and the rest was just there to dip into.

Not so, the writer’s life.

You may get all your income from writing and writing-related activities. Or you might have one or more other jobs. Writing may be something you do as a hobby in your spare time, while working full-time in another sphere.

Unless you make a lot of money from writing, it is easy to think “I’ll pay myself when I start making a profit … for now I’ll just let the money flow in and out of the slush fund”.

But there’s something to be said for celebrating the income. For making it more concrete. For not seeing it as a shamefully low amount, but something that is an amount, and that will probably grow over time.

That’s why I like the concept of Pay Yourself First.

How does that work? Let’s dive in.