The impossible dream for most writers is to actually make money writing. \u00a0I can\u2019t imagine how many times I\u2019ve been told through my years of studies that I\u2019m working really hard but I\u2019ll just end up in food service\u2014by the way, I worked in restaurants for fourteen years and still really miss that work, so this is not to say that a career in food service is unimportant or unfulfilling (though at times it can be very thankless). \u00a0The point is that still<\/i> when I say I want to make a living as a writer, I am brushed off by family and friends as if I\u2019d asked for a unicorn for my birthday: \u00a0\u201cGreat dreams, kid, but let\u2019s be realistic.\u201d<\/p>\n
Over the past year, this has been further complicated by colleagues and peers. \u00a0I have said on many occasions, \u201cIf I have to make money writing calendars and Valentines\u2019 cards, that\u2019s what I\u2019ll do.\u201d \u00a0But then comes a sort of slut-shaming of writers; \u201cIf you take a job like that, you\u2019re a sellout.\u201d \u00a0Nobody ever says that phrase, but it is intoned. \u00a0If you take a job where you are producing anything less than your greatest works, you are not to be a respected writer. \u00a0At AWP last year, I overheard a conversation that went something like this:<\/p>\n
Person A: \u00a0I just got offered a job writing for Buzzfeed!<\/p>\n
Person B: \u00a0Ugh, don\u2019t tell me you\u2019re going to write those stupid lists.<\/p>\n
Person A: \u00a0No, I\u2019m going to write articles.<\/p>\n
Person B: \u00a0As long as you don\u2019t write those stupid fucking lists.<\/p>\n
Without knowing either party, I was super stoked for A, then felt really bad for A, then decided that B was being incredibly judgmental when they should have been happy for the friend getting a job writing that actually included getting paid. \u00a0I was bummed for A. \u00a0Whatever you feel about those lists, congratulations seemed in order. Over the last year a fellow fiction writer posted an article to several poets\u2019 Facebook timelines including my own; the article was about a small group of poets that were getting work at weddings and corporate events for writing personalized haikus on demand. \u00a0The group members in the article were making money doing something fun and it actually involved writing. \u00a0I remember one response to the article was that we shouldn\u2019t espouse the corporatization of poetry. \u00a0Beyond the fact I don\u2019t think this group of poets was \u201ccorporatizing\u201d anything, it still begs the question: \u00a0Why would that be so bad?<\/p>\n
And then there\u2019s the other side of the spectrum. \u00a0A woman recently asked me how to publish her children\u2019s books (which she had not completed yet). \u00a0As I started to answer\u2014this is the research you need to do, these are some options\u2014she interrupted me, wanting to know how she could make just \u201ca little money\u201d off the project. \u00a0I shot her hopes down immediately. \u00a0\u201cYou can\u2019t go into writing to make money. \u00a0No one makes money. \u00a0For every Stephen King there are a million good writers that don\u2019t make a dime.\u201d \u00a0This is the reality I realized I had accepted for her<\/i>: \u00a0Even calendars and cards are too hard to make a living at if you aren\u2019t willing to put in the time, research, and effort, so buck up sweetheart cause unicorns won\u2019t be making an appearance before the cake. \u00a0I\u2019ve known this woman a long time, and she goes through bursts of creative energy evidenced by abandoned kilns, canvases, and metal working tools in her garage. \u00a0For her, I don\u2019t think there is a way to make \u201ca little money\u201d let alone a living because she doesn\u2019t have the commitment to hard work and rejection that is required of a writer. \u00a0There is no doubt she is an artist, but for now she needs to have her dreams crushed.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s the thing. \u00a0In today\u2019s writing community, there are those who prefer to be elitist, see their work as pure and above monetary compensation (well, not above it, but there have been no excellent offers yet). \u00a0There are those like me, that are willing to pump out droll to get a reference, the experience, some edge. \u00a0But it isn\u2019t an impossible dream to make money as a writer\u2014it isn\u2019t even impossible to make money and maintain your artistic integrity\u2014just don\u2019t knock others who are writing for a living though not creating writing you enjoy, because somebody enjoys it, and that\u2019s why we can get paid. \u00a0As a writing community, we should understand these struggles. \u00a0Leave the shame, and instead, support each other.<\/p>\n
-Jess Marshall<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The impossible dream for most writers is to actually make money writing. \u00a0I can\u2019t imagine how many times I\u2019ve been told through my years of studies that I\u2019m working really hard but I\u2019ll just end up in food service\u2014by the way, I worked in restaurants for fourteen years and still really miss that work, so … <\/p>\n