Hey folks. I'm sure a lot of us dream about being able to live of our writing. Unfortunately for most of us, though, I believe this isn't often the case. That being said, does anyone here make money off their writing? Perhaps even enough to skip the "day job" entirely? I personally haven't tried to sell any of my material yet, as I considering this time of my life to be one for refining my skills, but I have been making a decent amount of money (and hits-- 530,000, yay) doing simple things like drawing on napkins. Still nothing to live off of, but it's a start.
i'm curious... how do you make money by drawing on napkins? as for making money with writing, in my old life, i charged [and was paid] up to $150/hr as a writing consultant, made bits here and there as a magazine columnist and editor, or selling a story, ad copy, or whatever now and then... it never paid the mortgage, because most of my time was devoted to the concurrent full-time jobs of being a single mom, running an upscale rooming house and writing my own books, plays, screenplays, et al....
Wedding photographer here...I'd love to eventually be able to write for a living, though I must admit that my "day" job is pretty awesome!
Corn wet miller. I think it'd be interesting to write for a living. But then - I've got some great benefits where I work... -Xy
I've got two jobs. Sundays and Thursdays, I work at a pet store. Superpetz. 4-5 hours a day, mostly. Tues-Wed-Fri-Sat, I work at a newspaper factory. I'm in the packaging department there. Usually 10 hours. 9 am - 7 pm. Since it's something I love, I think I'd like a go at writing for a living maybe one day. But that day won't come for a while, I'm sure.
I work for Shell the oil and gas company currently in business improvement / change management / projects sphere for the HR dept - I don't hate it and it certainly pays the bills
I'm a student and am not planning for summer jobs. Not ever ever. But on the bright side, I'm always going to keep trying to get published. Probably not my source of income, but just personal satisfaction.
Aw man I wish i could write for a living, but then there is always that question if writing nearly 5000+ words per day won't fry your imagination box. I know i'd disintigrate after a month or so. For now i guess i'll stick with construction.
My nine to five is a boring old warehouse job but it pays the mortgage. For the last few years though I have been making money on the side as a freelance automotive journalist - not enough to retire on but it pays a few bills. I am currently working on getting a full time position within one of the publishing houses I freelance for so maybe one of these days I will make a living from writing!
I just graduated from college and I'm currently looking for a full-time job. Unfortunately, whatever I find is not going to be in my field, seeing as my majors were music and psychology. Good luck with that, eh? I would love to write for a living, of course...
Kind of wierd in my case job-wise. I work doing three different jobs (all of them freelance, although some of them so regularly, they are almost like a full time job in some respects) One, I train people in several subjects, design, artwork production, and creative writing; two, I actually do design work myself; three, I work as a writer too. You can imagine the fun I have with people trying to pigeon hole me as far as 'what I do' counts. Al
I make a small supplemental income with my writing. I do ghostwriting of letters and speeches, mostly. Sometimes something else, but those things are the bulk. I have a website on that if anyone is interested. Just PM me. I would like to find a job where writing was the base...but my network sucks.
Student. Currently hoping I get a summer job at this healthcare billing facility but I would love to write for a living. *sigh*
I'm a full time student and I also work part-time at Comet, which is an electrical retailer. Thursday 5 - 8 Friday 5 - 8 Sat 11 - 6 Sun 10 - 4 Up until about three weeks ago I also worked as a dinner lady at my local school, but I gave that up for exam revision time...
I don't have a liscense... so I don't have a job. *sigh* I'm hoping to eventually get a day job like editing or critiquing, so I can get paid to do what I do here.
I'm a weekly contributor to SLAM's Online Magazine, and for a few of its actual six magazines that are on newsstands six times a year.
100% of my income comes from writing of some sort. Romance novels, niche erotica, freelance newspaper/magazine articles, newsletters -- basically anything someone pay me to write. The general fiction is my spare time work. Hopefully it will soon contribute to my financial well-being.
Thirty one years in a field I hate...insurance. But I own the company and it brings in plenty of money for me to indulge all my other dreams. It's kind of like the goose that lays the golden egg, only the goose's disposition sucks, but I sure do like those golden eggs! I also spent the past fifteen years writing articles for a bass fishing magazine, including feature articles and ghost writing for a Hall-of-Fame member. But, the income for such writing did not even come close to my lifestyle needs so it was done primarily for fun.
rose... is that '100%' enough for you to live on independently, or do you live with parents or whatever? and do you write for harlequin or any of the other major romance imprints?
mammamaia, It lets me live a completely independent, one-bedroom apartment, one car, kind of lifestyle. I recently married (another freelance writer), but we still maintain separate apartments (across the hall from each other) because getting one larger apartment would quadruple our current combined rents. My psuedonym is a Harlequin one.
