Writerly Poverty

First go read this post on Brenda Coulter's wonderful blog.

Sad, isn't it? But to be expected. Half the world thinks they could write a book. Very few actually pick up a book and read it, let alone plunk down good money for it. So, while there are many avid readers out there, they make up a small percentage of the population. And how many of these readers are also low-paid writers? Of course, that may be a trick to get reviews from talented writers who can't afford the books and have to settle for ARCs.

Most writers have second jobs, or a supportive spouse, or live at home with their parents (i.e. me; but I feel better since Dee Henderson also moved back home with her parents to write) to be able to afford what many consider a hobby. Writers do one type of work for money, and do what they really enjoy - writing - whenever they can. I've recently realized that writing work is also divided into two groups - writing you love, and writing you do to pay the bills.

I'm a fiction writer. I love creating characters and worlds and situations, brewing them all together for a satisfying adventure - of the heart and the mind. Unfortunately, fiction is the hardest type of work to get published. I know this from personal experience in the shorter (non-book) writing realm. I've been paid for articles, reviews, even poems, but never for a short story.

So I write articles and reviews. Though they don't stir my imagination like fiction, I still enjoy them. After all, they're writing. I'm being paid to write. That brings a joy few other kinds of work can. And while my fiction takes a bit of a back burner place, I don't consider it hobby writing. It's an investment in the future.

When I can say, "Yes, I have a second job to support myself while I write. I also write."