Why Write?
The discussion yesterday of what writers are worth begs another question after seeing the responses and comments. Why write?
I have to be REALLY honest here (aren't I always?). I write to earn a living. Yes, I can be completely lofty and craft-driven. It can be my passion. I would write even if I didn't publish, but it would be in a different form, I think. I might blog about my kids, or about life, or about philosophy, or physics, or the universe. I might blog about God or gardening or knitting or my prayer and spiritual life. I would always write because it's who I am.
But I write, very specifically, to earn a living. I don't write to be known or have my book on a cover. The fact that it is on a cover earns me money. I write because I am not particularly qualified to do anything else. I can run a small newspaper, I can write for magazines, I can be a ghostwriter or book editor, but I can't usually get to the office on time, and I don't particularly like having a boss. I don't want someone to tell me what time I get to eat lunch. I don't like the way an office full of people can come to near-blows over issues pertaining to making the coffee or how to label personal items in the fridge. I don't want Big Brother reading my email or looking at what sites I visit. If I feel like wasting time, I want that perogative. Because given my work ethic, if I waste time now, trust me, I'll be working hours and hours unseen and still doing the work of two or three people because, as Demon Baby says, "That's how I roll, Baby." (He also is fond of, as we walk out the door now, saying, "Let's rock and roll, Mama." I am doomed. The kid is eccentric.)
But in the end, I write to make a living. So that entails writing things that are publishable. Watching the market, watching trends, thinking and plotting career strategies. And lots of writing.
I meet people all the time who are "thinking about" writing a book. I can meet them ten years later and they will STILL be "thinking about" it. I meet people whose books are so far from marketable that I don't quite know what to say. There's writing for friends and family and yourself, and there's writing to sell. They are two different animals. There's thinking about it, and doing it.
So when I think about what my time is worth, what I am worth as a writer, it is predicated on my being absolutely CRYSTAL clear about why I write. I really and totally do not write because I would just die without it. It's not how I breathe. It's important to me, it's part of me. But no, I write to earn a living. I would die without my children and without prayer, not without writing. I write because I like the lifestyle. I write because I don't particularly work and play well with others. I get frustrated by stupidity really fast, which pretty much precludes me working in most corporations. I write to earn a living and it's what I do, I think well. And that means I need to be razor sharp about what's selling, what's dead in the water, and how I spend my time.
This is what I do. And if I seem . . . steely-eyed about it, I am. Writing keeps a roof over my head, food on the table, and a violin in a case for Oldest Daughter. I don't have time to craft a novel no one will buy. I don't have time to "think about" it. I have to DO IT, every day, ass in this chair. FOCUS.
So why do you write?
41 comments:
Why do I write?
These days I am writing to sell.
I am writing to establish a career.
I am working toward the day I can leave my regular job and support my family via my writing.
No I am not lose tot hat point now, but I have very belief I will ge t there and I although I am an unagented/unpublished in novel form writer I am closer to my goals today than I was last year.
I love reading and I love writing but those loves have led me to where I am at now. I write with the belief I will one day get paid.
Hey Travis:
If your Easter Bunny/Santa stories are any indication, you will get there. :-)
E
I write because it is what I do. I do not paint, or draw, or sculpt. I have been writing stories since I was in grade school.
Like Travis, I work toward the day when I no longer have to commute to the "office" to do my job for someone else.
It is a given that I have to do something to generate income... and I want to do something I love rather than something I can just do well.
I am completely and totally on the same page with you on this.
But it wasn't always that way. I write for a living and intend to do it as long as I can because of all the reasons you cited and probably a few more. I don't particularly like having bosses. I don't like having someone look over my shoulder. If I'm dicking around, I don't want the boss bugging me about it, because on my own, I GET THE JOB DONE. I hated commuting. I think you're absolutely spot-on about how you can get a group of people together and they damn near rip each other's throats out over whether someone else came in 5 minutes late or the brand of coffee they make or something equally trivial.
I'm struggling with the novel writing right now because it's not paying the bills. Let's face it, writing novels is more fun than writing business reports or magazine articles. You are, after all, daydreaming, so it's a great gig if you can get it. I still love doing it, and I imagine I will continue to do it and continue to get them published, but man, there are easier ways to make a living. Much, much easier.
And I wonder sometimes, with people who seem so driven to be writers, fiction or nonfiction, if they were given the realistic option: a 9-5 job that pays $60,000 a year and includes 5 weeks of paid time off, and 401K and health insurance that you feel so-so about, or
A writing job that pays $60,000 a year, you can mostly work 9-5, but sometimes you will HAVE to work in the evenings or weeks, there is NO paid time off, there's no contributing benefits, no health insurance, and even when you do go on vacation, most of the time you'll drag a laptop or something with you so you can check e-mail, and maybe even be forced to do some work because your clients aren't on the same schedule as you, and you know, you might go a month or two or three (or if you're a novelist, 4, or 5, or 12 or more) without a paycheck.
Really, people need to think about these things realistically, instead of the fantasy world that writers like Stephen King and John Grisham and JK Rowling live in. Their writing lives have as much in common with most working freelance writers and novelists as your local school board has in common with George Bush.
Sorry. Got to ranting a bit. Guess I'd better get back to work.
Hi Ewoh:
I most definitely love the writing life. SO much better than a day job. It works for me.
E
Mark:
Believe me, it's not a rant, it's reality. I don't have health care insurance . . . I do, but I might as well not, the plan sucks so much. And I went for a full year with none. With Crohn's disease. Not fun.
The novel writing pays my bills, I love it, it's a fun ride. But it's also, at times, a grind, and it pays to be really clear about the reasons you write. I don't romanticize it.
E
I would just point out, for emphasis, that I'm not kidding about evenings and weekends. Here's an example from yesterday.
I had an interview scheduled for 11:00 in the morning, so instead of going to the gym around 10:30 I went at 9:00, so it was an odd day. Back home a little after 10:00, worked till a little after noon, had lunch, then worked straight through until 6:00. Thought I was done for the day. Had dinner, did the dishes, practiced guitar, then around 8:00 went down into my office and noticed that I'd gotten a phone call from a possible interview subject for the report I'm writing. They were west coast, so I called him; turns out it was his cell phone, so I conducted the interview right there, transcribed it, and ended my workday around 9:00. This sort of thing happens all the time.
What Ewoh said...except for that last line. I'd add I want to do something I love AND do well. As in financially well and be good at it. ;-)
(ps, Gas' guest post is up. He went easy, copied a touching letter. Huh. Musta been that outline I had on the desk for a memoir of a tragic divorcee who had to pen porn to pay for her children's education after she institutionalized her husband!)
I write becaue I too want to write for a living. I write because I have these movies that play in my head and I want to share them with everyone else. But ultimately, if I can't make a living out of it, they will continue to play solely for an audience of one.
It's what I do.
The most lucrative writing I've done is technical, both military and IT oriented. The military jobs I do have the added benefit of going to very unusual places in, shall we say, interesting circumstances. Unfortunately, you don't get your name attached to such writing very often, but damn sure pays the rent! Ok, so some of the military jobs I've done have the added risk of getting my butt shot off, but they still pay well.
What I want to do is make a living writing fiction...a bit trickier I think.
So in the meantime, I continue to do the other stuff...hey, it pays. Most of my other available time goes into fiction. I've done some of my most productive writing while in the war zone where long hours of boredom easily outweigh the interludes of excitement.
Hi Mark:
My days start before dawn and ends . . . when I'm done. With four kids . . . it's interrupted by my Mom-Job. It can be grueling, but the plus is right now, I am sitting in sweats, Demon Baby just made two batches of homemade muffins (with Significant Other "supervising"), and I am rocking out the Arcade Fire on my iPod at a level no office would tolerate. :-)
E
Hi Lainey:
Can't wait to check out his post!!! (For anyone else . . . "Gas" is her husband.)
E
ello:
I hear you. I would blog whether I was a published writer or working as a writer or not.
E
JLK:
My biggest money has been ghosting. As such, you won't find my name anywhere on it!
:-)
E
Erica,
My days typically start at 6:30, although 5:30 depending on what the kids' before-school schedules look like. And I'm typically at my 'puter around 7:15 to get a start on e-mail, etc., but break to get Sean off to school and walk the dog.
Alternately, as you say, there are perks. It's about 11:20 right now, and my guitar lesson is at noon, so I'll be leaving in about 10 minute and won't be back until 1:30 or so. And that's a hell of a perk.
I don't feel like I'm going to die if I don't write, but I do feel I'm hard wired to be a writer. I also try to write what I think would be marketable, but I let myself be rebellious enough to think I'm writing whatever it is I want.
Mark:
Have a good lesson!!!
E
Hi . . .
I think there's always a part of us that writes some things just for ourselves, our way.
E
Amen to that. Exactly. For almost every reason you listed. Especially the office politics thing. And it's the only thing I know how to do, besides music. And everything you said. You nailed it. Without the need for money, I'd probably read much more and write slower. I'd take more time to be curious about everything.
Spy:
Oh, me too. My biggest wish is for a HUGE hit so I can do that.
E
It's funny that you brought this up, since I was just thinking about it this morning in the shower. I think a big reason why I write is because the best writing days make me feel so amazing. It's like a drug. I also write because I love to focus my creative energies, or else those characters and ideas just run everywhere. I like it because it's a challenge. When I write, I feel like I've accomplished something. Also it's a really, really good excuse not to clean house or make dinner. "But, honey, I was working on my novel..."
Writing keeps me either out of jail or out of the psych ward. With all of the little voices running around in my head, I'm better off putting them to paper. ;-) Oh, and another reason. It's cheaper than trying to express my creativity through acting. I've heard the horror stories about that and sleeping my way to wrong couch just won't cut it with me.
Hi Booklady:
There is often that . . . just "in the zone" quality to it, yes.
E
marcia:
Yes . . .
My new motto:
WRITING . . . CHEAPER THAN THERAPY.
:-)
E
I just want to be able to afford one of these.
"I write because I don't particularly work and play well with others. I get frustrated by stupidity really fast, which pretty much precludes me working in most corporations."
With all the crap I'm dealing with in my new job, I couldn't agree more. It's mean to say, but so many people are stupid and petty and it drives me crazy. I love the 'surround yourself only with positive, inspiring people' idea but that's impossible when you have to go to work every day. I love my actual work - Marketing and Design Manager because it's so creative but I hate having to deal with idiots. I wish I could do it from home and probably could if they were lateral enough in their thinking. But I think they enjoy having me on site so they can plague me.
I write to escape to a degree but also to get my ideas down on paper in the form of fiction. It's a release.
I'm not an intellectual, or an artiste, or even very smart for that matter, but for some reason I've always been pretty good at assembling words on a page. Writing has always come naturally to me (perhaps as a result of being read some fairly sophisticated prose as a child), and it's something I enjoy. Like I said yesterday, we do it because we love it.
BUT...
Why novels? Why not poetry, short stories, stage plays, screenplays, etc.? Why not just keep a journal?
For many years, I was one of those people who said, "Some day..."
As I went kicking and screaming into middle age, I decided it was now or never. The novel is, IMHO, the grandest of literary forms and the most difficult to master. I've been at it a few years, and on a 0-10 craft scale I figure I might be a 3 right now. The only way to get better is to read more and write more, so that's what I'm doing.
For now, that's why I write: I want to earn a living writing novels. I want to get good enough to play with the big boys and girls on the bestseller lists. I want a chance at "the big time," and a chance to perhaps leave some small indication that I actually set foot on this planet.
Stephen,
Good luck with that. Maybe you should consider becoming a governor or something. Yeah, go into politics...
I identify very much with a lot of what you're saying. Writing is about the only thing I'm qualified to do. I should go back to school and rectify that, but I can't give up the level of freedom necessary for someone else to tell me when I can pee and eat.
About the only job I can really stand to do is hotel night audit. No supervisor, I can write there, I'm mostly left alone. For crap pay, it's not bad work.
Stephen:
I suggest you write the next Da Vinci Code.
E
Hi Suzanne:
I have never understood corporate culture, honest to God.
E
Hi Jude;
Actually, if I could make a living writing poetry, I would. I love it as an art form.
E
Mark:
Good advice for Stephen.
Some sort of job where you can made about $4300 for a couple of hours work.
E
Hi Zoe:
I don't really have the temperament to teach . . . I LOVE teaching. But I don't want to get paid to do it. Then I would have a principal and people demanding I do things by a certain guideline. I would love to be an astronomer or something, but I think it's late in the game to switch. So I'm stuck with writer. :-)
E
Fabulous post. I write because I want to make a living at it. It's the only 'job' I've had that hasn't bored me after 3 months (tops).
Even though I get cranky if I don't write for a few days, I wouldn't continue if there was no hope of further publication.
Hi Sara:
I hear you. As I said, I think I would blog--but about different things. But if I had no hope of publication, I think I would be the same. Mark Terry asked what we would do if we won the lottery a few posts ago. I know I would NOT write. There's too much other stuff I would be interested in.
E
Erica, I worked outside the home for years, like everyone else. The one constant is, I always wrote in my free time. I never got paid for it, but I did it because it's what I do. I imagine if you find yourself reaching for something over a period of time, it's important. And it is. :)
ladonna:
Great observation. It has been a constant in my life always, too.
you could still be an astronomer. or you could be a tutor. then you teach with no bosses.
Hi Zoe:
I know. I do plan to go back to school when Demon goes into kindergarten. I actually want to study documentary filmmaking. But next spring, if I can, I would like to at least take one night course in astronomy.
E
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