To just quit work and finally write my books?

Why can't you write in your spare time and then do the self publish idea that you have, along with self promotion with family friends or drop a day at work and make that your writing day. You are still working and adding to your savings but also doing what you want to do.

Write the books!

If you can afford not to work, why do it?

Why can't you write now?

I know people who make money self publishing but it hugely depends on genre, a lot make it by publishing series, the theory being that if you build up a backlist and make a few hundred off each then you’re earning a fair bit. Saying that I know two people through my friend who earn a good living but my friend left her job for two years, made nothing and her and her dh are on bad terms now because they went into debt on editors, covers and marketing and she wants to keep trying while he wants her to go back to work

Surely if you wanted to write you would have started writing in your free time.

This is my dream. You have the means, the back up, the will and the drive. Do it, then comer on here and tell us so we can all buy it and support it.

You sound talented and you already have some great ideas by the sounds of it. It would be a shame to just stay in your safe job and not try to be a published author.

But do you know how publishing works? I don’t really know much about it but i have heard of authors getting book deals based on a couple of drafted chapters and a plot. Could you try that while you still have a job?

Also Richard Osman probably still did other TV work while writing his books. Does it have to be work or write full time? Is going part time at work an option so you can write part time until you see if you like it and if it’s likely to be a long term success? This will also give you a safety net if your writing career isn’t what you need it to be.

Is there a halfway house - go part time at work and give yourself say 2 days to write while working 3 days? Just to keep some money coming in.

Cut your hours do to say two or three days. Leaving the other two free for writing. Polish up the first one snd submit it to a publisher. Or pay for a crit on it.

OP I am like you and would give up in heartbeat if I could and focus on writing.

I think the part time idea is a really good one so you don't entirely deplete savings, could add to them but also access when needed.

The reality is (I have read) that many writers that we would consider successful still have to hold down another form of work quite often even when they have a successful book. It's the rare few that can give up entirely.

I hope you can do it, do do it and are a huge success.

No brainer. Go for it!
I have friend whose husband did this. He went back to work after, in a different type of job.

He will probably write more once he retires.

Given the shit state of the job market and the massive inflation going on, I wouldn't quit my job.

Writing is not income you can count on and you have kids. One emergency could hit that savings fund hard. Some of the successful authors who started out like you kept their day jobs until they had a steady income stream coming in from their writing then they went to being full time authors and that would be my advice.

Get up an hour earlier. Take vacation/admin time. See if your work schedule can compress or if you could go part time.

I would do that rather than not working at all. The job market is getting worse, its really difficult for authors to make decent money unless your books are extremely popular. Your taking a chance quitting and them not doing as well as you had hoped and then struggling to get a job afterwards.

One of my friends is amazing at writing but her books just never took off. She ended up becoming an editor instead and writes in her free time.

Which short story competitions have you won? if you are winning bridport or the Marjorie Allingham or Ellery Queen prizes for crime short stories, maybe you should give up work.

But are you aware that the vast majority of professional authors - that is - authors you may have heard of, whose books are stocked in Waterstones and reviewed in national press don't even earn enough to pay tax? That it takes an average of two years to write one book to professional standard and another two years to pitch it, sell it and see it on the bookshelves? It is a very slow industry.

I don't say these to put you off - nothing should. But know what the reality of earning money is. You'd be better off reducing to four days a week and dedicating one to writing, rather than cutting off all your income in one go.

I have friends who have made millions from writing novels. And other friends who rely on their partners' incomes, as despite having a great reputation in the industry, (award-winning, Sunday Times bestsellers) they earn single figures each year.

My ideal would be to cut down work and work part time in a bookshop only and write part time. Could there be a halfway house like that? Also you don't have to have the whole book written before finding an agent. What about doing a route to publication course?

Also most authors write part time as it's hard to make a living from it.

I know about a hundred professional authors, due to working in a field that comes into contact with them regularly. Many of those hundred you will have heard of. Only one of them earns a living solely from writing. The others are lecturers, editors or have some job unrelated to the industry. Less than 10% of them earn double figures each year. Only three of them have ever earned over 100k (and if you think the first book takes two years to write, and another year to come out before the final installment is paid - that's still only an income of around 30k a year for the first three years, even if you are staggeringly successful.

I am an artist and I wouldn't give up my day job to go fully self-employed in a creative field. Mostly because, in my business, I do 90% marketing, selling and financial admin which leaves very little time to making art. And that takes all the pleasure out of it.
So, instead, I have a stable job where someone else is doing all the administrative thinking for me, use my evenings for boring business admin tasks and use 3 days a week to make artwork which gives me enough security and balances mental load.
If going part time is not possible in your current role, I would find something else for 2-3 days a week and allocate the rest of your working week to writing.

This. I work with professional (fiction) authors, too. They are all teaching either in universities or evening programmes/short courses. This includes authors who have been nominated for national and international literary prizes.

I share your dream so I'm sympathetic, but I think going part time is a better option if there's no guarantee you'd get a role at your current level in two years time when the money runs out. 18 months from starting a novel to having it sold to a publisher would also be incredibly quick.

Just an observation; it doesn't always take years to write and publish a book. I wrote a book 19 years ago, forgot about it, found it again in June, edited it, got accepted by a publisher and it should be out in December/January.

Started on the sequel on the 27th July and should have the first draft (c75,000 words) completed by the end of this month.

Don't give up though OP, where there is real will there is a way. Maybe start small. Is there 15 mins in a day where you can just free write a scenario, paragraph, chapter opening. Just start with the writing and see where it takes you.

Am also a writer... it's hard work, isn't it? But ah, the joy of writing, and dreaming, and creating. Keep at it. Even if you only have one afternoon a week. Carve out that space, and keep going.