How Virginia McCullough Built a 50-Year Writing Career Without Giving Up Her Dream
Award-winning author Virginia McCullough shares how she turned writing into a 50-year career—and why starting is the secret to staying.
What makes Virginia McCullough’s story so powerful is that she didn’t just become a writer—she stayed one, for more than five decades. Through reinvention, financial need, creative pivots, and personal transformation, Virginia built a full-time career on her own terms, ghostwriting more than 150 books and later publishing a dozen of her own.
In this candid interview, she shares how a single walk changed her life, why you should never wait for inspiration, and what advice she has for anyone afraid to take the leap.
Tell me about a time you had to start over, or a dream you accomplished.
After writing articles part-time for a decade, in the mid-80s, everything changed and I had to reinvent my life and support myself and my two kids. A “regular” job was practical, but not my dream. I wanted to remain my own boss, but I resolved to ignore the naysayers who insisted my dream of full-time writing was impossible.
At first, I did office temp work, but over time, I learned how to network (an '80s buzz word) and find nonfiction markets, including ghostwriting and “book doctoring.” I slogged along, made mistakes, and caught a few breaks. Eventually, new technologies allowed me to write from any location for clients in any location. Early in the 2000s, I started writing novels and happily declared: Mission accomplished.
A career artist must hustle to sell themselves and their work. What’s your #1 Hustle Tip?
No fretting over motivation or inspiration. Just start. I have books to write, so why would I waste time wondering if I’m inspired? Bouts of ambivalence and its cousins, avoidance and procrastination, affect most creatives. The cure is simple: Start working. Don’t give the brain a chance to chatter: This isn’t good enough…no one will like it…blah, blah, blah.
Once we begin, the work itself becomes the horse pulling the cart along the path. Whaddya know? That cart fills itself with motivation and inspiration. Engage with the work and motivation will follow.
What big hurdle did you overcome to reach your goal?
I have a speech issue (think Joe Biden), and with it, a public speaking phobia. But in the ‘80s, I needed money, so I submitted workshop proposals to an adult education center. They were accepted. Then terror set in! I needed to cancel them. But first, I took a long walk to calm myself. At some point on that walk a firm inner voice broke through my panic and said: You don’t have to become someone else. In an instant, I got it.
Something important shifted. I didn’t have to adopt a new persona. I could be myself as I presented information the participants paid to get. A life-changing miracle moment, which opened so many doors. A woman in that first class referred me to the healthcare professional with whom I wrote my first coauthored nonfiction book. That book led to the next one, and to ghostwriting, the core of my business. What if I’d canceled?
Do you have another goal or dream?
Well, the goal for my forthcoming book, How to Be a Writer and Stay a Writer is to support and encourage others walking this path. And a bunch of characters are waiting for me to tell their stories!
What’s your advice for someone who’s starting over, or wants to achieve a dream?
Stay in action—what I call my muses reward action. Regularly take even the tiniest steps to reach your goal. True, good ideas often come while we’re playing with the dog or stirring the soup, and pondering our stories has its place. But most of the important flashes are related to a goal we’re already deeply immersed in.
If I'm focused on a project, I can trust that a solution to a dilemma will come while I’m grocery shopping or cleaning house. One morning decades ago, I was stuck in the middle of a client's project. I decided to put it aside, but that very afternoon, the solution came to me in a flash while I sat in the upper deck of Wrigley Field watching the Cubs beat the Mets. I hadn't been thinking about the problem when the answer came, but I’d been completely absorbed in it only a few hours before. So, stay in action—you’ll be rewarded.
An award winning author of fiction and nonfiction, Virginia McCullough entered the world of writing and publishing over 50 years ago, and for the last 40 years her writing has focused on ghostwriting and “book doctoring.” As a ghostwriter, she’s written more than 150 nonfiction books and novels for professionals in many fields, including healthcare, psychology, law, business, and professional speaking, and she’s co-authored more than a dozen books with experts. Today, she’s a developmental editor and coach.
How to be a Writer and Stay a Writer—The First 50 Years are the Hardest offers an inside view of the writing process, building a full-time writing business, and the joy Virginia finds in writing itself. She currently writes romance and women’s fiction, including three multigenerational series for the Harlequin Heartwarming line, with a fourth series underway. Set on the shores of lakes, rivers, or oceans, Virginia’s romance and women’s fiction (AMBER LIGHT, ISLAND HEALING, GRETA’S GRACE, THE JACKS OF HER HEART) include relatable characters facing everyday issues. Readers come to know her characters well, and her themes always reflect hope, healing, and plenty of second chances.
Virginia is a long-time member of Authors Guild (AG), the Women’s Fiction Writers Association (WFWA), and Romance Writers of America (RWA) and affiliated chapters. A vagabond by nature, she was born and raised in Chicago, started her family there, and then spent many years on the move. Home has been an island in Maine, coastal Maryland, the U.S.V.I, and the mountains of Western North Carolina. Currently living in Northeastern Wisconsin, Virginia walks on local trails and wanders in bookshops and libraries, travels every chance she gets, and hangs out in coffeehouses with other authors. Sign up for Virginia’s newsletter and have a look at her resources for writers here: www.virginiamccullough.com and follow her on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/virginia.mccullough.7
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Such a cool writing career! And get! A cubs fan is always a plus! 😄
Such an inspiring writer!