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Why don't writers write more?
I used to teach an MA in Creative Writing and I was mildly surprised each year to discover that virtually none of my students did any writing outside of their main area of interest (novel, short story, poetry).
My argument remains: if you're a writer – or have ambitions in that direction – why not try to get more professional writing work?
You may not (initially) be able to live off the proceeds, but magazine work, editing, copywriting, blogging etc can earn you money. More importantly, it forces your writing to become more professional. You have to be quick, learn rapidly and please diverse audiences in different styles.
More importantly, once you've found your niche, you might actually have more time to write the things you really love. Which makes more sense: working for a few hours as a waitress or admin or whatever . . . or bashing out an article (say) in a third of the time for the same, or even more, money?*
What I'm saying is: if you have a skill, use it. Develop it. Don't keep it as a hobby. I write every day because it's how I pay my bills. Very little of that is novel writing, admittedly, but when the time come to work on the novel, I am am focused, efficient and fast because I spend all my time writing.
*A professional copywriter can earn upwards of £300 a day but may actually do only a couple of hours' work. A retainer can be even better. That's when a company pays you a set fee each month in case they have any writing to do. A company once paid me for three months without giving me any work at all. That allowed me to write a novel.
My argument remains: if you're a writer – or have ambitions in that direction – why not try to get more professional writing work?
You may not (initially) be able to live off the proceeds, but magazine work, editing, copywriting, blogging etc can earn you money. More importantly, it forces your writing to become more professional. You have to be quick, learn rapidly and please diverse audiences in different styles.
More importantly, once you've found your niche, you might actually have more time to write the things you really love. Which makes more sense: working for a few hours as a waitress or admin or whatever . . . or bashing out an article (say) in a third of the time for the same, or even more, money?*
What I'm saying is: if you have a skill, use it. Develop it. Don't keep it as a hobby. I write every day because it's how I pay my bills. Very little of that is novel writing, admittedly, but when the time come to work on the novel, I am am focused, efficient and fast because I spend all my time writing.
*A professional copywriter can earn upwards of £300 a day but may actually do only a couple of hours' work. A retainer can be even better. That's when a company pays you a set fee each month in case they have any writing to do. A company once paid me for three months without giving me any work at all. That allowed me to write a novel.
Comments
But I know that many younger writers are holding down jobs that are no longer 9-5, they have shifts, so add on the other demands of everyday life and writing life they probably only have the time to concentrate on one aim.
I'd love to be a full time writer but I'm not so I have to do a day job and also have other commitments - young family etc so even doing what I do is a struggle. I suspect many others are in the same position and there have been other discussions on here around the feeling that it has become harder to earn a living from writing in recent times.
I suppose if I'd signed on to do an MA my stance might be slightly different and I'd perhaps want to explore other ways of making a living from writing, rather than my main interest jut so all my eggs weren't in one basket.
Ah, well - maybe no-one read it anyway.