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Retiring early and living a passion-driven lifestyle is everyone’s dream, isn’t it?

And the wonderful thing is, it’s not an unachievable goal either. It’s possible to gear yourself up for early retirement by thinking creatively, living frugally, and coming up with a solid pension plan.

There are also some solid options available for making money post-retirement too — such as writing. If you’re relatively creative and enjoy writing — whatever the subject — then you may have just found a fun way to keep yourself occupied at home while generating a bit of income.

In this post, we’ll be covering writing in retirement, and how you can prepare to ensure some level of success. Read on to find out more.

Start with a blog

Starting your own blog is one of the easiest ways you can experiment with your writing style and your topics. If you really enjoy writing, you might want to go onto something else after.

Creating a blog might sound complicated, but it doesn’t have to be at all. These days, there are all sorts of “drag and drop” website builders that will let you create a blog easily without the need for any in-depth knowledge of website-building or coding. Plus, there’s plenty of help available online in the form of guides and public forums.

So what are you going to base your blog on? The topic is up to you, but it’s normally a good idea to stick to something that you know plenty about. This could be food, traveling, the industry you spent your career working in, or maybe a hobby that you’ve dedicated lots of time to.

Once you’ve decided on your blog’s topic, you need to think about your written content. It’s not enough to write well; your blog posts need to be interesting and valuable to your audience. You need to reel in readers with catchy post titles and then keep them engaged with relevant, entertaining content.

You’ll also need to write frequently; this will draw more readers to your blog and create a larger audience. Luckily you’re retired, so at least you’ve got a bit of time to spend on this!

Write articles for local newspapers

If you’re the kind of person who enjoys collaborating with a team, working to deadlines and meeting new people, why don’t you start writing articles for local newspapers?

You may have to pitch some of your own ideas and writing skills to the editor to prove that you’ve got something to offer, but it’s a good way to get involved in something you’re passionate about.

You may find that you have to write for free (at least initially) but conversely, you may get paid per article you write, depending on the publication.

Writing for a local newspaper (either digital or printed) also gives you exposure to a wider audience and might even generate some new job opportunities for you. Plus, it’s a nice way to get out of the house and meet new people for the pieces you’re writing.

Self-publish a book on Amazon

You’re retired — now is the time to pen that novel that you’ve always wanted to write!

You might find writing a book intimidating initially, but it’s not the biggest leap to make if you’ve been keeping a blog or writing for a local newspaper.

Writing your own book and self-publishing is a good way to generate some retirement funds that keep on appearing long after you’ve written the book as people continue to buy it. But how do you publish your book once you’ve written it?

Enter Amazon self-publishing.

With the creation of Amazon Kindle publishing (KDP), publishing your novel no longer means having to send off hundreds of letters to publishing houses and receiving the same amount of rejection letters back. Self-publishing on Amazon is now easier than ever (though still a bit scary of course!) and far-reaching too — by using Amazon KDP, your work could reach a global audience.  

Whether it’s a fictional novel, short story, educational resource or how-to guide, writing a book is similar to writing a blog. Find a topic that you’re interested in and can write confidently on.

The audience you’ve gathered and the reputation you’ve built upon your blog will also stand you in good stead when you’re promoting and publishing your book. Your readership will help to support and promote your new venture, as well as purchase your novel based on your previous writing. It’s always good to have a team behind you.

Create a course

You’ve probably gathered a wealth of knowledge and experience in your specialist subject over the years. It seems like a shame to just shove all of that information into a mental compartment and lock it shut once you’ve retired.

If you fancy passing on your wisdom and learning to the next generation, then you should consider writing your own online course.

The course you create depends, of course, on where your knowledge lies. You could write a course on how to be successful in the industry you worked your way up. Or you could create a series of tutorials for more practical application, like DIY fixes. Maybe you’re a history buff — do a fun mini history course based on different periods. Get creative, and get personal — base the course on your unique skills and knowledge.

Once you have picked your topic, you can use an online course platform to build and launch your course. From there, you can promote the course, start charging students and making a nice little post-retirement bonus.

These are just some of the things you could do to write successfully in your retirement.

Writing in retirement can be a great way to give yourself purpose and add value to your post-work life. It also gives you the chance to share your knowledge and passion with others, express yourself, and make some money.

Follow these tips to start your journey to writing in retirement today.

This informative post was contributed to Leisure Freak by author Kayleigh Alexandra.

Kayleigh Alexandra is a content writer for Micro Startups — a site dedicated to giving through growth hacking. Visit the blog for your latest dose of startup, entrepreneur, and charity insights from top experts around the globe. Follow us on Twitter- getmicrostarted.