And then we get to the day job vs. writing full-time dilemma.
Bear with me, this one might be convoluted, since I'm writing this as I go here...
Okay. My question would be: How much do you need to live comfortably, and do you really want writing to be your sole source of income?
Think of what encompasses "sole source of income." If you have a day job now, you might not see the cost of health insurance and retirement, but that cost is there. Just look at your paycheck stub sometime. I don't have any figures offhand, but I imagine I cost my company a lot more than just my salary. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if I cost twice as much as I actually make. (I do remember seeing some article about this somewhere online, but for the life of me I can't remember where.) If you factor in everything, writing for a living can be very expensive.
Do you really want to force your creativity in that direction? Do you really want to be worried about where the rent payment (or mortgage payment, or whatever) will be coming from?
Now, I'm not saying that it isn't possible to write for a living and be quite comfortable, but let's be honest here. At the moment, I'm not even making minimum wage, writing-wise. I have a goal, yes, but it's a long-term goal and not yet fulfilled.
And, I should add that I don't count the writers who write for a 'living', but wouldn't be able to live off their writing incomes, because they have a spouse or significant other who is the main breadwinner in the house. This, in my opinion, should not and does not count as "writing full-time." You would expect (at least I would expect) a full-time job to pay enough to live on your own.
That said, here is my point.
After much thought and deliberation, I have decided that when, in fact, I do end up making enough money from my writing income to quit the day job, I probably won't quit. Or, if I quit that specific day job, I will get a job outside the house anyway, for retirement benefits, healthcare, etc. I would have to be making a substantial sum to quit the day job entirely.
Why have I decided that?
Well, for one thing, I don't want to ever be forced to write something I don't care about. I don't want to write something solely for money, I guess. And I can see this happening quite often if I relied on my writing income to pay the bills. I don't want to write media tie-in novels, or ghostwrite something, or be forced to take assignments that don't interest me just to make some money.
Money isn't everything. And in all honesty, even if I never made a dime, I'd still write.
Since I'm single, and have no dependents, I obviously don't need as much money to live on as people who have kids, spouses, etc. In fact, this summer, my total monthly expenses will be less than $600. That's only $7200 a year. Quite minimal.
I think I might revise my goal a bit once my monthly expenses are that low. And you can guess what the revision might entail: to make enough money writing to cover my monthly expenses. After all, if I keep the day job (which is not my passion, but is one I can ignore on the weekends) I'll be much more likely to be able to afford a house, to travel, and live as comfortably as I wish.
And with that in mind, I will be free to explore my own worlds, write what I am interested in, and become a better writer without having the spectre of a late or unpaid bill hanging over my head.
I think I can settle for that. :)
Addendum:
Because I've been there. I've been in the position where I had to pay for a tank of gas using quarters I scrounged up from spare change, or else I wouldn't have enough gas to get to work the next morning. I've been in the position where I brought instant rice and chicken bouillon gravy to work for lunch because there wasn't anything else in the house to eat. I've had rent checks bounce due to not enough money in the bank, and I've timed it so there would be money in the bank when they resubmitted the check.
I've not bought necessities to pay the bills. And I've had things cut off before. Not electricity, thank goodness, but cable when we had it. And the telephone, many times. That time of my life was so stressful that I'm surprised I got any work done at all. I couldn't even afford to print out manuscripts for submission, because of the postage involved.
And in all honesty, I'm extremely adverse to that happening ever again. Once was enough, thank God.
Next rock: Support (both spousal and familial.)
Bear with me, this one might be convoluted, since I'm writing this as I go here...
Okay. My question would be: How much do you need to live comfortably, and do you really want writing to be your sole source of income?
Think of what encompasses "sole source of income." If you have a day job now, you might not see the cost of health insurance and retirement, but that cost is there. Just look at your paycheck stub sometime. I don't have any figures offhand, but I imagine I cost my company a lot more than just my salary. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if I cost twice as much as I actually make. (I do remember seeing some article about this somewhere online, but for the life of me I can't remember where.) If you factor in everything, writing for a living can be very expensive.
Do you really want to force your creativity in that direction? Do you really want to be worried about where the rent payment (or mortgage payment, or whatever) will be coming from?
Now, I'm not saying that it isn't possible to write for a living and be quite comfortable, but let's be honest here. At the moment, I'm not even making minimum wage, writing-wise. I have a goal, yes, but it's a long-term goal and not yet fulfilled.
And, I should add that I don't count the writers who write for a 'living', but wouldn't be able to live off their writing incomes, because they have a spouse or significant other who is the main breadwinner in the house. This, in my opinion, should not and does not count as "writing full-time." You would expect (at least I would expect) a full-time job to pay enough to live on your own.
That said, here is my point.
After much thought and deliberation, I have decided that when, in fact, I do end up making enough money from my writing income to quit the day job, I probably won't quit. Or, if I quit that specific day job, I will get a job outside the house anyway, for retirement benefits, healthcare, etc. I would have to be making a substantial sum to quit the day job entirely.
Why have I decided that?
Well, for one thing, I don't want to ever be forced to write something I don't care about. I don't want to write something solely for money, I guess. And I can see this happening quite often if I relied on my writing income to pay the bills. I don't want to write media tie-in novels, or ghostwrite something, or be forced to take assignments that don't interest me just to make some money.
Money isn't everything. And in all honesty, even if I never made a dime, I'd still write.
Since I'm single, and have no dependents, I obviously don't need as much money to live on as people who have kids, spouses, etc. In fact, this summer, my total monthly expenses will be less than $600. That's only $7200 a year. Quite minimal.
I think I might revise my goal a bit once my monthly expenses are that low. And you can guess what the revision might entail: to make enough money writing to cover my monthly expenses. After all, if I keep the day job (which is not my passion, but is one I can ignore on the weekends) I'll be much more likely to be able to afford a house, to travel, and live as comfortably as I wish.
And with that in mind, I will be free to explore my own worlds, write what I am interested in, and become a better writer without having the spectre of a late or unpaid bill hanging over my head.
I think I can settle for that. :)
Addendum:
Because I've been there. I've been in the position where I had to pay for a tank of gas using quarters I scrounged up from spare change, or else I wouldn't have enough gas to get to work the next morning. I've been in the position where I brought instant rice and chicken bouillon gravy to work for lunch because there wasn't anything else in the house to eat. I've had rent checks bounce due to not enough money in the bank, and I've timed it so there would be money in the bank when they resubmitted the check.
I've not bought necessities to pay the bills. And I've had things cut off before. Not electricity, thank goodness, but cable when we had it. And the telephone, many times. That time of my life was so stressful that I'm surprised I got any work done at all. I couldn't even afford to print out manuscripts for submission, because of the postage involved.
And in all honesty, I'm extremely adverse to that happening ever again. Once was enough, thank God.
Next rock: Support (both spousal and familial.)
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