Quitting the Day Job - What's It Really Like?

THE LONG NIGHT OF THE RADIANT STAR - a midwinter holiday fantasy romance in the Heirs of Magic world - is out in the world!

       

This week at the SFF Seven, we're talking Secret Identities! As in, the work we do on the side to make ends meet, partners helping to support us, and quitting the day job.

I'm fortunate that I was able to quit the day job - 18 years of a career as an environmental consultant - about 7 years ago. It was one of those things where the day job quit me: my team was downsized, I got laid off with affection and good severance pay, and I decided to try making a go of it writing for a living and NOT getting another day job. In truth, I was more than ready for that moment. At the same time, I kept waiting to make as much money from writing as I did from the day job (including the value of benefits), which was never quite happening. If I hadn't been kicked from the nest, I might never have voluntarily left it. 

That said, it's the best thing that ever happened to me. My husband has Parkinson's Disease and is no longer able to work, so apart from a small retirement income and his social security payment, keeping us afloat is up to me. That reality has made me really hustle with my writing. Between self-publishing and traditional publishing, I'm now making what I was with the day job.

And I'm ever so much happier. Seriously, after having essentially two careers for over 20 years, it was such a relief to focus on just one. Plus, all the meetings and phone calls I have are about books and writing. It's the best life!

I don't do much work on the side. I do some author coaching and teach the occasional workshop - I'm considering doing more classes - but it's important to me for the happiness quotient. I want writing and making books to be the priority. That's what I quit the day job to have. 

Writing for a Living

 Full time writer? Used to be. Not anymore. These days, out of necessity, there's a day job gumming up the works. I used to nurse a fantasy about being able to write swiftly enough and well enough that I'd be able to out earn my day job with books. It might still be possible and I'm still working on building a system to support that effort. Writing full time was a great privilege. But it also wasn't writing full time. It was writing half time. So maybe I've never really been a full time writer. Or maybe I'm more of one now that I'm a technical writer getting paid for what I write on a consistent basis. That's a little soul crushing though, because I don't even want to read what I write in those documents. Too few explosions, honestly. No romance at all, so what's the point?

The writing half time crack comes out of the fact that I had to make a deal in order to give the whole writing full time thing a go when I first embarked on it. I had to promise to take care of everything that supported day to day life. The house. The cooking. The cleaning. The finances. The errands big and small. ALL THE THINGS. It worked for many a long year. I enjoyed it all very much. Getting to write for several hours a day. Taking care of my family. But life changes. Breadwinners lose jobs. Loved ones die. You lose your home. It doesn't matter what the story is. Stuff just happens. And then you recover from it. Recovery meant me returning to the workforce. If you think THAT was a simple thing after fifteen years of not working for someone - dang. I have a great job with a great team that's full of other authors and aspiring authors. We do Nanowrimo each November (no one ever 'wins' because work) but we do try to support one another.

But. I always have my eye on what tweak can I make in my life to steal a little more writing time? Another block of space that would let me write.

I had the writer-without-a-day-job gig. I want it back.