Category: Time Management & Deadlines, Writing Life, Money
This question has been on my mind a lot considering that over the past year I’ve gone from no day job to two concurrent part-time jobs. How much to work while pursuing a creative dream is a common dilemma. There’s no easy answer and the approach you take depends on your writing habits and where you’re at in your life and your career. However, if you’re considering quitting your day job, or reducing your hours to part-time, or even going back to work full-time, maybe I can help by sharing what I’ve learned over the last decade pursuing my dream while working part-time, full-time, overtime, and not at all…
Category: Writing Life, Money
I have worked as a television screenwriter for most of my adult life, and currently I’m working as a video game writer. Some of WOS’s readers have asked me how to get work as a writer, and I was reluctant to write a post about that because it’s such an individual question. My story is specific to my education, location and vocation (though if you’re curious, I’ll include it at the end of this post). But, I do know a lot of writers of various disciplines (screenwriters, journalists, magazine editors, game writers, copy editors), so I decided to put that combined knowledge into a general post on how to get work as a writer. Here goes…
Category: Writing Life, Money
There are all kinds of cute ideas for what to get writers this holiday season.Writers Helping Writers has a whole Pinterest page full of them! Though I like slogan mugs and book cover necklaces, I don’t really need those things. Instead, in lieu of the usual knick-knacks and novelty presents, here are some practical, homegrown gifts for the starving artist in your life…
Category: Money, Writing Life
When it comes to writing, I am definitely a plotter. I love knowing where my story is going and filling in the details on scene index cards before I start writing prose. But when it comes to making money, I am a pantser. I have no idea what my next job will be or when I’ll get another paycheck.
The upside of freelancing is I’m not tied down to a full-time job and can take time off whenever I want (i.e. turn down freelance jobs) in order to work on my own projects. The downside of freelancing is, after taking those months off, I run out of money and need to replenish the bank account.
Currently, I estimate I have seven months until my bank balance hits zero as long as I’m extremely frugal: no shopping, no eating out (hey, friends, I can’t afford brunch, but let’s meet for coffee – I’ll bring my travel mug!), no extra anything. I’m following my own 10 Tips to Survive the Starving Artist Lifestyle to the letter. But soon even those tips won’t be able to save me from homelessness.
So I must be panicking, right? Nah. After almost two decades of freelancing, I’m confident I can find work when I need it. But how does one get to that place?
Category: Writing Life, Money
This is a question artists and entrepreneurs of all sorts contemplate. We yearn for more time to work on our creative pursuits, and even if the day job is pretty great, it’s easy to become bitter with it for taking time away from what we really want to be doing with our lives. But the question of whether you should quit your job leads to other questions…
So many questions, and often you won’t know the answers until you take the plunge. However, maybe I can help by sharing what I’ve learned over the last few years – working part-time, full-time, overtime, and not at all.
Category: Time Management & Deadlines, Money, Writing Life
A little backstory on me… I have not worked a regular, paying job this past year. I used my savings to quit everything and just write a novel. I’ve had many friends ask me how I stay motivated without the threat of deadlines or reward of money. This is how I do it…
Category: Money, Writing Life
I’ve been living the life of a starving artist for a decade and a half. I’ve never had a steady salary job. I don’t have a trust fund. My average income is $20,000/year. Basically, I work just enough to get by and spend the rest of my time writing. Which will pay off. It already did once when I used this approach to write spec scripts, go back to school and break into the TV screenwriting biz. This time, I’m writing a novel and breaking into the publishing biz. The question everyone has for me is, “How do you survive in downtown Toronto on such a small amount of money?” Here’s the answer…