And now I'm asking. I am new here, and, frankly, don't have the time to pour through every damn thread.
Oh, I'm envious of you. What is a typical day like for you, if you don't mind me, or is it my asking?
Hi, I make a small income from my writing, not enough to live on but enough to keep the cats in catfood and pay a few bills. As to how it came about I wrote a book and then published it, and then I wrote another etc. Cheers, Greg.
I make all my living from writing, but it's advertising rather than fiction. It started when my boss at the time told me I had to write adverts for a load of products, so I bought a book and copywriting and did.
I do copywriting to pay the bills but, as erebh pointed out, that's not strictly creative prose to pique the imagination or tug at the heartstrings. Currently, what I make from creative writing is not exactly what someone might plan their retirement around!
Technical writing, some freelance work (mindless blogs that pay college loans) ... my income is entirely from writing though not creative writing at the moment.
It doesn't need to be creative writing, in fact I was hoping to read about the non creative variety. I have college loans as well from my BS in Library. You'll never guess why I chose library instead of English. Are you ready? College algebra. The library only needed basic math. Once I was about to complete my degree the English department dropped the algebra because they didn't see how it would be necessary. Isn't that a hoot?
Here's one of the threads on this topic, my answer is in there: https://www.writingforums.org/showthread.php?t=55792
I ghostwrite and translate part-time for now. The pay is by no means enough to make a living, but it pays some bills and my vacation.
I've recently started sending short stories in to paid competitions. So far I've won a couple hundred quid, nothing major. Also I proof-read other people's writing for 11p per page, but only essays and advertisements and the like. And only if they can pay me in cash. I'm a tight b*****d, I want my money
I did not understand this post... what? When I think "library", I'm thinking of well, libraries - places where you go to borrow books. And when I think of "algebra", I'm thinking of maths in school like x + y = m2 or whatever it was. a(4+5) = 45. That's algebra. What's algebra doing in an English dept? And BS is usually short for "bullsh*t" As you can see, based on all of that, I am rather confuzzled... And what on earth is "a hoot"? I'm guessing "a laugh"...
You're so cute. I guess University wants students to have a well-rounded education, but algebra? Come on! And, yes, BS does stand for bull sh!t. I see that now.
The most streamlined way, in my opinion, is to follow all the various literary magazines on Twitter--they usually make announcements about open submissions, contests and the like. Of course, there are the popular (in the U.S. at least) annuals like Carve Magazine, Glimmer Train, Missouri Review, etc. Most literary magazines do some kind of competition.