Matthew Sampson asked Michael J. Sullivan:

Greetings Mr. Sullivan! Love your work, FYI, but am curious, if not too personal of a question... what was your day job before becoming a full time author? And do you find yourself writing a lot more now that you are full time, or do you spend a similar amount of time working on your books?

Michael J. Sullivan Hey there Matt. I don't think I've ever run across a question that was too personal...so no worries on that front. I've never been in a position where I had to "juggle" a day job with writing. There were two main writing careers for me. One that went from the mid 1980's to the mid 1990's and the second one that started around 2004 until now.

During that first stint I was a stay at home dad, and I wrote while my kids were taking naps, in the evenings after they went to bed, or, later, when they went to school. When I didn't get anywhere, I quit writing altogether (a big mistake - but it seemed like a good idea at the time). And then I went back into the "work world." My background was in advertising design (what I did before the kids came along). So I returned to that. After about six months "working for the man." I realized that I really didn't enjoy the traditional work environment (in other words I hated having "a boss" so I quit and started my own advertising agency.

The advertising agency went really well, and I did enjoy being my own boss, but after I made it successful, a lot of the allure was gone. Part of the attraction was the struggle to make something of it. Once it got "going" I found that I was doing the same stuff for different clients and it wasn't appearing anymore. During that ten year period, the stories continued to invade my head and I was getting the writing itch.

My wife, who by then was also working at my agency, was very understanding when I told her I wanted to write again. We agreed to shut down the agency, she'd go back to a day job, and I'd write...but with the very strange caveat of doing so with no desire to publish. By then we had made some good money, Robin's job paid well, and me having an income wasn't something that was important so she said, "Hey, if it's what you want to do...if it'll make you happy, then go for it.

So, Robin went back to HER day job, and I started writing again. When she read the third book of Riyria she also made it her job to get them "out there" so she took over the business side of stuff. In 2011, my writing income (at the time self-published) was eclipsing her six-figure income and once we had about 2 years worth of "bill paying money in the bank" she was able to quit her day job.

So as to your second part of the question....about the amount of time I have to write. It's pretty much been the same during all my time writing. In general I find I can't really write for more than 4 - 5 hours before the quality goes down and anything I write past that needs heavy editing. So that's how long I spend "writing new stuff." I can edit for 8 - 10 hours a day, when it comes time for that, and of course I'm almost always "thinking" about new books so in many ways I'm always "working" but it's not like I'm tarring a roof in summer.

Thanks for asking.

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