It’s a Really Hard Time to Be a Writer

Freelance writing, blog posts, and anything remotely related to Internet writing aren’t for the faint of heart. Everything when it comes to writing and making an earning… it’s all really inconsistent and at any moment a dependable stream of income could go dry. You need luck on your side to be a writer.

Here’s the thing: There are legit writers who are amazing; they’re trying desperately to find their groove. It’s hard finding a publishing company that’s reliable. It’s hard to get in the door with a publisher that believes in your talent and also has the resources to make sure your work goes from a private draft to something that the masses will read. You can sit for years in publishing hell, waiting for your magnum opus to be printed in bound copies.

Writers pick up journalist jobs, and journalists get laid off. There are millions of writing contests that are actually scams. Several poetry journals don’t pay poets for their work. You’re lucky if you get $5 for your poem! You’ll be rejected way more times than accepted. In fact, if you are a true writer, you’re very used to rejection. You’re a cynic who mistrusts everything because you’re not new to this game.

You may be encouraged to move to a big city where you’ll have to live in a one-bedroom apartment that costs a fortune. You may have to share that space with random people you met off Craigslist. You’ll be annoyed when you come across bad writing, bad creativity, and bad artistry because — it sucks that someone you know who is less talented than you somehow got their foot in the door. (What kind of magical feet do these people have that get them through the door?)

You can go the more sane route and become a tech writer. Here you’ll have a reliable income stream. You likely won’t get to write anything that’s creative or memorable for the masses, but you won’t have to worry about whether you can put food on the table. Eventually, steadiness trumps creativity. If your creativity doesn’t lead to steadiness, you’ll abandon it.

Teachers have a 5-year shelf life. You could try to be a writing teacher as a way to have a steady income. You’ll write on the side. . . after you grade the mountain of horrendous papers and deal with over-the-top parents. The students and administration are going to suck out your soul. You become a shell of yourself.

You, the teacher, will be drained. You will be a gothic monster roaming the streets of foggy London. Are you sure you want to teach? There are more reasons than I can name for why there is a high turnover rate for teachers. (And you know those reasons too.)

The Internet could be a better place where strong writers can rise above the cream. Talented writers in the digital age should have more opportunities than they’ve ever had. The problem? There are a lot of scams, pointless projects, fruitless workshops, waste of time ideas, and dishonest CEOs. It’s near impossible to write something that will garner traffic.

Writers come in all shapes and sizes. They want to put their talents to good use. Maybe they’re like me and earned a master’s in creative writing. I’d hate to time travel and tell my younger, sweeter, more innocent self that after ten years she’ll have made barely little (if any) progress toward creative writing. Would it have been smarter to get a master’s in something else and be a subject matter expert? Possibly.

It’s hard to be motivated when you feel like your writing is only meant for a void. You don’t see a clear pathway to success. Writing becomes a hobby. Writing becomes something you once loved, but it no longer serves you.

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Why did I write this article? Because traffic and earnings for freelance websites are way, way down. It sucks when you make $X,XXX a month and it trickles down to $XXX. It’s demotivating. It’s frustrating. I literally have to save every penny. I hit the refresh button. I drop my head in my hands.

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My annoyance is that just because you’re outstanding at something doesn’t mean you’re going to find the right venue or connections for your talent. Often people go to college and do something completely different from what they studied and that’s because the gap between your talents and the right venue for your talents is HUGE.

Look the best writer for the past few decades has lived in Bangor, Maine. Stephen King is our present-day William Shakespeare. He should be giving us advice, not someone who doesn’t have a profound back catalog. Stephen King doesn’t live in some big giant city sucking up to weirdo bosses. He isn’t a CEO whose trying to manipulate people into a certain frenzy for extra money for their already oversaturated bank account. He doesn’t host sketchy workshops.

Read the best of the best from the undisputed best writers. Stop reading stuff on social media because 99% of it is trite. Keep writing, but be cynical. Don’t expect anything. EVER.

Try writing for a particular person, like your son. You don’t need to amaze a random publisher. You don’t need to move to a big city for a writing career. Just write in a way that someone you love would be enchanted. Someone who would love your story. You’ve succeeded if you’ve won over this person. All of the other accolades are just bells and whistles.

Let me make this clear: Writers don’t have it easy. It’s best to mix writing with another skill. Don’t have another skill? Join the club. I’m not the president of it, nor would I want to be.

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Originally published:https://medium.com/p/89f6644ad083