Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Is Writing a Job?

Follow my crazy train (crazy-train?) of thought: Daphne Unfeasible (aka Agent Kate Testerman) posted a link to the blog of her client, Catherine Cheek, who was writing about writing and the day job, to which author Matthew Cody responded.

Catherine said this:
I think it's helpful to think of writing as a hobby instead of a career. For most of us, that's all it will ever be.

Matthew said this:
I’ve sold two books, but I’m the sole support of my family of three, therefore I teach English and ESL at the community college, which is a rewarding job with time off to write. I’m planning to have a day job for a long, long time, even if I sell more books, because that’s the reality of this business for most of us.

But on my taxes I put “Writer”.
When asked what I do for a living, I answer “Writer”.
My “hobby” is collecting comic books (yes I’m that kind of nerd).

Hmmm.

Am I writer? I write, yes, but is it my profession?

I have a day job. I teach. I teach high school English. Which means I don't work 9-5. I work 8-3...and even if I get summers off, during the school year, I spend at least 10 hours a week outside of school on grading and lesson plans and faculty meetings and not stabbing myself in the eye with my red ink pen because they still don't know the difference between their, there, and they're.

That's the job I get paid (very little) for. If I have two things to do 1) revise manuscript or 2) grade essays that are due tomorrow--I grade the essays first, and am usually too tired afterwards to do anything else involving words and not involving gin. On official records, my profession is teacher. My w-2 comes from the school. I introduce myself to strangers as a teacher (in part to avoid the awful "have you been published?" question). I have been known to not mention writing to close personal friends (re: "have you been published?" question).

But.

I do not treat writing as a hobby. I don't do it for fun. Or, I don't do it just for fun. I do it with the intent of (one day) making money from it. I spend money on it, and consider it an investment, not entertainment. I intend to explore writing off expenses in my taxes. I give myself deadlines--which usually hurt. If I have to either grade student essays or revise my manuscript--and I'm not working on a deadline for report cards that are due tomorrow--I revise the manuscript. I do not make a secret of my writing life, even if I'm not always forthcoming about it, and I'm happy to talk about books, publishing, and the like on a professional level. I read novels as research, not entertainment. I network. I send queries off. I behave like a professional at conferences.

Does that a writer make? Which is the dividing line: the paycheck, or the attitude?

6 comments:

Christina Farley said...

I'd like to think of myself as a teacher like you but I work part time so the rest of my free time is devoted to writing. I like you put deadlines on myself and pay for my conferences with articles and short stories. But I don't tell people that I'm a writer. If it comes up, then I say it's a hobby of mine. But the reality is that's it more of a hobby than say quilting.

Unknown said...

I just realized that I never really answered my own question! I'm going to go make a post on that now...


OK, back!

Christina: I like the way you said it--it's more of a hobby than quilting. I can totally see it that way. And I am also secretly glad that it's not just me who hesitates telling people that I'm a writer. It's so much easier to not even bring it up than to face down the "are you published yet" question.

Bowman said...

Until I get an advance and royalties, I'm not going to call myself a writer.

Sure, I write, but I haven't achieved writerdom.

Unknown said...

I used to make the distinction between writer (just writes) and author (published). But I am starting to waver on that now...

PJ Hoover said...

I always treated my writing as a serious thing (more than a hobby) but I never started referring to myself as an "Author" until I quit the day job. Maybe because most of the people I talked to were my co-workers.
I will say this. When I tell people I'm an author it draws much more interest than when I used to tell people I was an engineer.

Regardless, I think to succeed in writing it has to be treated as a professional job, whether a second one or the primary one.

Anonymous said...

Clearly some people think "hobby" = "Not serious." Maybe I should broaden my horizons, get less nerdy friends. Hobby can also mean "something you're passionate enough about to do it even if there's no financial reward."

I see writing as a hobby in that it's an expenditure, not an income. I do occasionally sell things, but nowhere near enough to make up the cost of cons and writing workshops and even postage, on occasion.

If you wanted to become a black belt, you'd have to devote many hours a week to training, and you'd have to be faithful not only with your exercise but in your study. It would become the kind of thing that consumed your mind whether you were at the dojo or not. Karate can be very demanding. Rewarding, but demanding. But, like writing, very few people can make a living as a martial artist. In that respect, it's a hobby.

Just because my bills are paid elsewhere doesn't mean I don't have what it takes to get a black belt in fiction.

C.Cheek