No Money?…. Are You Really a Writer? Part 12 of 12
Welcome to all who are new, and to all who visit on a regular basis. I need to thank a number of people and encourage all of you to check out their blogs: Carrie Eckles at prompt romp, Uninvoked, Andrew better known as amber in glass and his awesome blog, Carrie and Andrew are a part of the inkers, so check out the inkers blog while you’re here, and of course all of those who took the time to comment, this series was a success because of you, actually this blog is a success because of you. Take the time to check out this series and others. Enjoy!
If you wish to guest blog on this blog, send me an email, and we can work things out. My email can be found on my profile.
As much as we all talk about money is there a tangible way to work with it, when as any writer can tell you that money comes in at the best of times irregular intervals. As any writer knows, it’s called a budget, and you factor into your work both time and energy correctly. It would be hard to say you spend equal amount of time for a two page short story as you would a full length novel.
Of course each writer is unique. They all have passions in different writing areas, some writers I know would say that writing short stories in near impossible, but others would argue writing novels or non-fiction is nearly impossible. But on the flip side, the people who love writing will try nearly anything to make a go of being a writer.
I know, when I first started, I can admit that money wasn’t a big factor, often it was in a church newsletter or in a school journal. Not much money but it got my name out, and that was ten years ago! People still talk about my editing and writing in one of many anniversary celebrations in the area. That is cool.
I started to think about my work as a business, and poof! the magic was gone, and my enjoyment and passion were gone, and my writing plummeted and I got few requests to write, not because of what I asked, but of how I wrote. Many would say I would write well enough for the fees I charged, not better… as a result, you get the idea.
The passion was gone, and along with it, my reputation as someone who worked over and above the call of duty. BIG BIG BIG mistake.
My road to redemption was a person who told me if I wanted to actually be a writer, then I had to write from the heart and with passion and regain a sense of joy in my writing. To humor them I did. To my delight the work was fun it was easy, it was like a dam of writers block broke. I had fun, and man did word spread!
Money isn’t everything but it help, but what is more important and what the person who wrote these many emails forgets is that if you write, you’re a writer if you write well people will know it and the fun will snowball.
My Question For you Today is This: What was the low point in your writing career and how did you get out of it?
4 Comments
AmberInGlass
No thanks are neccessary, but thank you, Rebecca, for mentioning me and the compliment on my blog. Commenting here has certainly been my pleasure.
I haven't had much of a writing career to speak of, but my lowest point was over a course of several years while I was still living up north.
I had several ideas and plans for my writing and multiple projects, but as it was, up there I was just too caught up with the hustle and bustle of the city life around me (trying to make a living, and all that) that I just never sat down to work on any of the projects.
It was a downward spiral, I fell into major depression and would mentally beat myself up because I wasn't writing and doing what I wanted to. I can tell you, that didn't make things any better.
It may be drastic, but I finally got out of it, by leaving the city and moving myself 900 miles away, to a drastically different climate zone where I didn't know anyone.
For some reason that worked, and I've been able to slowly chip away on projects ever since and feel great about it.
BeckyJoie at Leaders in Learning
I'm actually amazed at the mileage you have gotten on this one subject. It is quite a job to keep the same subject alive for days on end. It's like you're blogging chapters of a book.
Christy Pinheiro
I'm so happy I found this blog! I love the business of writing and everything that goes with it. Even the bad stuff, like vanity presses, just make our business more complex and interesting. I knew I was a writer the first day I got a big check. Before that, I was an accountant. Now when people ask what I do for a living, I say "writer".
Jennifer | Large Format Posters
This is an amazing series you're running! I'll read them all after this comment. 😉
To tackle your question: the low point in my writing career was when… I wasn't writing. Haha. Should make sense, right? It happened after I got my first few writing gigs. They didn't go all that well and I needed money, so I stuck with a high-paying job that I did enjoy for a time, but just wasn't the right fit for me in the end. So I left that and went for a low-paying writing job again.
And then a great thing happened: a friend recommended me to a great writing job, and I got in because of my previous writing experiences, including that very last low-paying writing job. And now I'm earning more than I ever had before 😀
So I guess the moral lesson to the story is perseverance, and willingness to put all of yourself on the line for your dreams, which in this case is writing. Well, you could have already tackled this in your previous posts so I really have to check. Thanks again for this great series! 😀