Out of the sixteen years I've been writing seriously, only three of those years would writing have paid the bills.
Otherwise, I've always had a job. Post-grad school and first kid, I got a full-time job teaching, and that's what I've been doing the last ten years.
Why?
Because writing alone would not have paid the bills. The early years I self-published (2011-2014) were my best writing years financially; however, I am so so so thankful I didn't quit my job back then. I watched people tender their resignations during that indie "gold rush," and I saw many more return to the workforce when the well ran dry.
Oh, there are certainly exceptions to every rule. There are writers out there who are making enough money off their passion to survive (a few are even thriving), but, again, this is not the rule.
The rest of us need our day jobs.
I post about this because I had a recent student tell me his wife was working full-time so he could work on/pursue his writing.
Immediately, the alarms began to sound. No! No! No!
He was already feeling the pressure to make something happen because of her sacrifice, and, at this point, it was actually keeping him from producing anything. It's not going to take long before she's feeling the brunt of her sacrifice, too, before it comes up in an argument, and then it's all downhill from there.
So many things were wrong about what he told me, not the least of which was my evaluation of his writing in my class so far, which, if I'm being honest, still had some gaps that needed bridging. He's a student--he's learning--we all are. He'll get there if he keeps at it, but he's not there, yet.
As a society, we glorify the "starving artist" trope and we love those rags-to-riches stories where first-time novelists go from living on the street to a mansion with a single bestseller. Again: the exception, not the rule.
A better trope would be the artist who works full or part-time and creates on the side. There's nothing wrong with working a job and pursuing your passion in your downtime. Is it ideal? No. But sometimes we need that break from our creative work so we return more excited and energized. We need that career to give us fodder for our Art. Most importantly, though, we have mortgages or rent payments and electricity bills, and demanding our Art pay for these is inviting disaster.
It's one thing for the financial well to run dry, and another for the creative well to run dry. You don't need that kind of pressure interfering with your soul work.
Be Brilliant!
~Katie~
