I have nothing left to say about writing.
Nah, I’m just messing around. There is always more to say about writing. For instance: Tonight Tobias Buckell is speaking in Seattle. I’m sure it is a paid gig, and even if I am wrong he is building cache towards his job teaching MFAs at the University of Maine. He’s finding a way to generate income with his words. In fact, he’s finding multiple ways to generate income while still managing a life, a wife, a time to write.
I bet he doesn’t play Apex or Minecraft or (especially) Madden.
However, my woes are not the focus of tonight’s words. I want to riff briefly on the writer as a job. There are many ways you can generate enough income as a writer to keep writing. Most of them involve teaching and speaking gigs, but there are others. Writing copy (or any short bursts of text) can bring you a little bit of cash. Doing this a lot can bring you enough cash to call it a career, but you have to make sure to balance how much of the ‘scut’ work you do vs. how much you are chasing your dream of being a writer. My sister is a PR genius, but she will never be as good in PR as she is as an author. Unfortunately, she spends most of her life doing the one thing and the other doesn’t make it as far as it ought to.
We have to choose how to spend our time and energy. We have to be efficient in what we do, because time is never as long as we hope it will be. Do the work you need to do as a writer (or otherwise) to have the space to write the stories you wish to write as a human. Find that balance for yourself.