tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post3636068700197474028..comments2024-03-26T23:41:10.319+00:00Comments on Authors Electric: Don't give up the day job! Sherry AshworthKatherine Robertshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17196712319655603442noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-10125901307216373362012-12-17T21:36:31.617+00:002012-12-17T21:36:31.617+00:00This is just so true Sherry! Thank you for saying...This is just so true Sherry! Thank you for saying it. I could never manage to write while tutoring creative writing, but - like Catherine - found the RLF posts wonderfully nurturing. Unfortunately they're rationed.<br /><br />I love the house analogy!Kathleen Joneshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07645566938871914385noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-5230107019370880582012-12-17T13:42:00.478+00:002012-12-17T13:42:00.478+00:00Absolutely spot on post. And I think it's a di...Absolutely spot on post. And I think it's a dilemma for all of us. There's been a lot of talk up here about various literary writers in particular not making enough to live on. Mind you, £15000 was the figure quoted, and I reckon that's not a bad income from literary novels! I've found that whenever I've taught creative writing, I have written hardly anything of my own. I think it just uses up so much creative energy. And I also spent a long time being distracted by plays, from which I earned a decent living for a number of years, especially radio plays - but again, the creative energy that takes meant that I didn't do much else. Certainly not long fiction, which seems to demand a kind of total immersion. My best ever 'day job' was probably an RLF Fellowship - working with students but NOT on creative writing - and leaving a good half the week free to concentrate on fiction, knowing that some money was coming in on time. The trouble with other CW residencies is that they tend to expand to fill the time available and you finish up working all week for half a week's salary. The RLF, by contrast, were always telling their writers that they must only do what they were contracted to do, because they had to get on with their own writing. This was not only refreshing, but it was unusual! From this end of things, I think I would advise any younger writer to go for a day job or even a part time day job, (preferably with a pension) but definitely not one that involved teaching. Preferably one that encouraged some knowledge of business. (Something that writers seem to lack.) Possibly self employment, but in another line of business altogether. Catherine Czerkawskahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14554969254207924049noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-54933163400575207942012-12-17T12:59:59.902+00:002012-12-17T12:59:59.902+00:00Well said, Sherry!Well said, Sherry!Sheridan Winnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08920819693284278166noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-18014180200281200872012-12-17T09:02:39.097+00:002012-12-17T09:02:39.097+00:00Very perceptive about the porous sensitivity - the...Very perceptive about the porous sensitivity - the moment we stop being sensitive to every part of the world our writing will die. The moment we start, we become completely vulnerable.<br /><br />I have to say, I'm with your tutor almost all the way. Of course I'd like a wage from writing, but the moment I start thinking about what will sell I lose sight of my artistic goals, and they must always come first, even if that means not ever having a paying, or even a non-paying, reader.<br /><br />As for novelists and poets...<br />With a foot in both camps, starting out as mainly a novelist and ending up as mainly a poet though always retaining a bit of both, I would concur that poets don't tend to expect to make any money whilst novelists do. I would also say that I have come far closer to a steady trickle as a poet than as a novelist - the opportunities for paid performances seem to be greater if that's the kind of poetry you write. I do think that any expectation on behalf of others that one be paid more than the other is something I'm uncomfortable with and I would campaign vigorously to overcome. Likewise (and from experience as I try to put together my first ever solo poetry show) the idea that writing a novel is somehow harder or requiring of more effort/research than writing a collection of poetry. Dan Hollowayhttp://danholloway.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.com