Everybody has a different reason for becoming a writer. And not every writer becomes a gazillion selling world famous novelist. Some writers started writing at an early age. They say their writing just flowed out of them as natural as a river flows through the countryside. For others it is a different story. Journeys had to be made. Mountains had to be climbed. Dreams were fulfilled and then lost. Only then did they put pen to paper and start to write. Maybe for fame. Maybe as therapy or maybe as fun. I was more the middle one. I started to write because I wanted to reflect on the last fifteen years of a supposed spiritual adventure or life journey. I wondered what it all meant and the best advice I could find when first becoming a writer was write what you know.

I didn’t realize that four years later I would still be writing the same story and that this journey as a writer was as demanding as the spiritual journey or life path that we all take. Writing to be free isn’t just about creative freedom but also about financial freedom. The idea of becoming a writer wasn’t just about the creative process of writing but also about the freedom that writing can give you. As a fully paid up freelance writer I would be able to move and roam to my heart’s content. In today’s technological world all you need is a laptop, an internet connection, a cafe and voila! you are off. You can wake up in the morning with no specific agenda and then head off to a favourite cafe to start your work. Then move on to another as you wish. Bored with the endless rain? Jump on a cheap flight to Spain and continue your work in the sunshine.

Writing to be free is about the steps I took to become a financially successful writer. I am not talking millions, not even thousands, but just enough to get by. I don’t need hundreds a week to get by, just enough to pay the rent, and hop on a cheap flight to Spain or Amsterdam when the mood takes me. I hope to have my books published one day but can’t guarantee that will happen, and if it does it may provide me with just an average wage. It still beats doing something you don’t want to do. The aim here is to get by on enough and live free and simple. You don’t need millions to sit by a beach in Spain and earn money writing.