When Nameless Finally Has Its Day
A Proclamation for My Ideal Career as a Best-Selling Author
Seven years ago, I started writing what will soon become my first, fully furnished novel titled, Nameless. Since beginning writing it, I have often pondered on my audience’s response to it, asking myself questions like: Will they like it? Will they be offended? Does it make them uncomfortable? How relatable is this story? How realistic can this story be? Who am I to write from this perspective that exists totally apart from me? Well, those are questions I likely will not be able to answer until my book is actually finished and put into print. Those are also the kinds of questions that have made this journey writing it that much more challenging to complete. My first and most important hope is for Nameless to become a best-selling trilogy. But if—better yet—WHEN that happens, there are a few things I surely aim to do. In addition to being able to claim reaching my ultimate career goal, I intend to escape financial disparity, pave the way for my novel’s remaining trilogy works, and create more opportunities for myself to expand my writing to other avenues.
While money is not my driving force to write, it certainly is a necessary factor in my intention of attaining financial freedom. I have done well to avoid prioritizing my ideal profits from my story existing primarily in the form of money, because writing is something I love to do and never want the focus of monopolizing on my writing to outweigh the passion behind the action or the content. I create works I genuinely believe in, even when they are fictional. My writing exists to touch the hearts and minds of my readers, so that is my ideal audience—people from all walks of life who want to feel something just as badly as they want to be felt. However, I have every intention of being considered some variation of financially free. I would like to be able to provide more opportunities and a better quality of life for my children who cheer me on in everything I do. They are obviously my ‘WHY’, and I want this not because it is my responsibility to care for them and love them, but because they deserve every good thing this world has to offer. Had they not been my own children, I would feel the same way.
The idea of my book being profitable exists in more ways than just my projected book sales. I intend to build a large enough following of invested readers that I will be able to successfully complete the remaining parts of the trilogy that Nameless is to become. This idea started as something that came so sporadically to me, while spending time alone in my apartment at 20 years old, trying to figure out what direction my life was headed in. In a sense, I may have expanded a story that ignited from my own internal struggle at the time (and probably still), but the story otherwise has nothing to do with me and is completely fictional. Nameless did not initially emerge with the intent of expanding, but thankfully, I have been able to drum up enough content to give it a sequel at the very least. I trust my process, and I believe I will be able to expand the story again once I really start writing the second book. Because of the nature of the story and its enrichment of self-identity and personal evolution, I want to be able to continue the series beyond the first book so the readers can see what life is like for the main character beyond what they learned in the first story.
As important as it is for me to debut my identity as a writer through my premiere novel, I do not want it to summate my writing journey. I have many other literary projects in mind, many for print and many for screen. It is important for me not to reach a finish line in my writing career. While I believe this is my most controversial work to date, I plan to remain limitless in my ability to create profound literary pieces. The more I will write, the more content I will have to write about. I struggle to finish, well, virtually anything, because of my very prevalent fear of failure, even though I know Nameless will be complete one day. Ironically, my biggest concern is allowing too much time to pass before someone else thinks of a similar idea, and is capable of developing it faster than I can. I know I am one creative mind in a massive world of many and I should not let that deter me from working toward my goal, but the more I think about that, the more I avoid completion. I know I am my worst enemy when it comes to my writing, and I plan to change that, here and now.
All in all, this is more than just a cool, prospective outcome for me. This is my dream. My dream, constantly deferred, continuously resurfaces because it must be my destiny. I manifest the success of my story as a best-seller because it is a story the world needs. Nameless is a story the world deserves, and potentially, someone in this world’s real story that deserves to be heard. I do not know that for fact, but I believe that regardless of the full spectrum of content in the book, it will be universally relatable in one way or another to readers. I look forward to continuing giving life to the Nameless trilogy and to my commitment to a career as a devout writer, whatever the content may be. I know I am capable, even whilst combatting fear from every possible angle.
How will I accomplish this when nothing is guaranteed in literature? Well, I will start by eliminating words like “ideal” in reference to my goals for my writing. “Ideal” simply represents my current step in the process as a hopeful writer, rather than me claiming tangible success as one. “Ideal” represents the full population of literate humans I would want to read and like my writing, which I know may not be the case. Everyone is not going to pick up my book and find it nearly as phenomenal as I do. Instead of focusing on everyone loving it, I will start with focusing on how many people my writing reaches. The more of a following I have, the more feedback I have access to in hopes of constantly enhancing my craft. I will stop overanalyzing every aspect of writing, feeling like I must compete with the Ernest Hemingways or even the Maya Angelous of the literary world. I will focus on celebrating where I differ as a writer and branding myself on that. I will welcome my fear of failure as fuel to continue rather than reason to slow down and stop completely. I will commit to writing whatever comes to mind, even if it produces one line rather than one page. I do not have all the answers when it comes to writing professionally or successfully, but I have faith in my concept, and that is one hell of a start. So, for now, I will celebrate my future spot on the best-seller list, currently on reserve, and I will see you all there.
About the Creator
Taylor Wilcox
Mom and traditional company frump by day. Failing vampire, aspiring best-selling novelist/author, wino, and mom again by night.
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