On occasion, I have offered some guidance and served in a role as a mentor to young and aspiring writers. One of the common questions they have is about making a living as a writer. Inside I have to work to hold back the laugh. I know several authors now who are very talented. We all pay our bills with other jobs. The few people I know who make a living as writers do little writing and more SEO work or social media work. I have long argued that there is a business side to writing, and these would qualify as the business side to writing, but writing is an art, long before it is a career.
Whether a fiction or non-fiction writer, a poet, or a journalist, when a writer sits down to put words to paper, they are crafting art. We all learn in school how to write a paper, how to structure a sentence, and how to use grammar. It is an art form that extends past these mechanics and allows a writer to pull these structures together in a format that captivates the reader into the story or verse that engages their mind. This is a gift. Just as we all take art in school and may learn about the color wheel, or textures, not everyone can paint a beautiful oil canvas or sculpt the next David. Authors are unique and gifted. Embracing this gift is important and is what will sustain them through the difficult times when writing days are sparse and emotions are worn thin. The understanding that you as an author are creating a masterpiece to share not a good too sell will help propel you past the position of writing SEO content for a job and into writing creative art as a passion.
We all hope that our masterpiece will turn into the next NY Times bestseller or will be converted into a blockbuster movie. It is when we write for this intent that we lose the freedom and creativity that keeps our words beautiful and captivating. I have given the following advice to those young authors who query me about commoditizing a career out of writing. Write for the love of writing. Work to pay your bills. If the two happen to cross paths, congratulations. Never lose your love and passion for writing. It is your love and passion that creates the art. I urge all authors to remember why they started writing. My inspiration was instilled at an early age. The flame came from a bellowed passion that I found later in life as I discovered who I was and learned more about the things that truly mattered in my life. This passion, this personal knowledge is the steep that brings out the art, the color of writing that fills the canvas with beautiful words and images crafted by the author's soul.
In conclusion, don’t ever write for a paycheck. Write for the art of it. Writing is not a job. Some jobs include aspects of writing. If you want to find those, seek them out. But that is a different question than how to commoditize art for the sake of income. Write for the art of it. Write for love.
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