User blog comment:Ameagle/Anxieties/@comment-25148755-20161023125739

It always amazes me when some of our members have such talent at a young age. Here's my take (I hate giving unsolicited advice but I figure by posting this blog you are asking for some?)

Pursue your writing, and have a back up plan that will pay the bills along the way. That might mean you get your teaching degree, allowing you to take your natural talent and help others develop theirs. It could be something else entirely. In my case I got my degree in mechanical engineering (about as far from creative writing as Dup's programming stuff) and have been in the military for the last decade. Does it cut into the time I have to write? Absolutely, but I don't have the crippling anxiety to write (and sell) something constantly.

Now some will tell you that won't work; that in order for your skills to mature you need to put that pressure on yourself to rely on them so that you are forced to innovate. I say perhaps...but being a successful writer involves as much luck as skill in my mind.

At some point you certainly may need to abandon your other work to focus on writing, if a publisher offers to pick up a series from you or something. But that's a ways down the line.

No matter what you decide, make the choice for yourself. Acknowledge the pros and cons, but accept that whatever happens you are making the best choice you can with the information available to you at the time. And then live with it.

Good luck!