When Writing Doesn't Pay the Bills...

[Dan Allen]

What do you do to make ends meet? I typically work as a waiter but it's obviously not what I want to do. How does everyone else w/out a writing job get by?

[Danielle Riendeau]

I work as tech support in a (film/video) editing lab, and I'm an emergency medical technician in the summers (i'm a grad student, hence the summer disclaimer). But writing is actually my main source of income right now. Why, if it weren't for all my school debt, I'd almost be doing ok!

[Troy Goodfellow]

I married someone who makes real money at a real job.

But I've also taught high school.

[Kyle Orland]

I did the same as Troy, and I thank her for it every day.

Don't get me wrong, I could live off what I make as a game freelancer. Just not nearly as comfortably.

[Brendon Lindsey]

My fiancee is an accountant, so that lets me work parttime and write on the side to try and make it. Most of my work outside of writing is at a couple local radio stations. I do sports radio, and every now and then I help do the play-by-play for some local college games in Oregon.

For a while I was really close to taking a job with ESPN as a writer (the other three guys who worked with me doing sports for our high school paper all write for ESPN now) but I like talking about sports a lot more than writing about them.

[Pat 'iTZKooPA' Mulhern]

I decided on a day job for this very reason, maybe one day people will start appreciating all our hard work and paying us like basketball players get paid!


Screw that I will take 1/5 of their average salary...

[Kyle Orland]

Can you get millions of people to pay to watch you write?

No?

Than I wouldn't expect even 1/5th of a bball players salary =P.

[John B]

My writing covers the bills, but for extra cash I took a part time retail job in town. Really it was more to get me out of the house to interact with other humans, though. Being a writer is a very lonely job, especially when you're in a new town.

[Lucy Newman]

I've always managed to find writing jobs whether ghost writing biographies for prisoners (Keith Idema before he went to Iraq and tortured people) and movie extras (Rocky the cyborg who sued Van Dame for kicking him in the eye). I freelanced here and there, found a two month gig with a local community art center to research and write a history pamphlet for an old Mill House once used to make Confederate uniforms. I found old dollar bills (which I was allowed to keep), magazines, books, tax notices, bullets, thread for the uniforms, poems written by a teen drafted into the Army during WWI. I've even tried radio. Got my license and even had a show called the Midnight Blues with Lucy on a public radio station. It got boring so I went job hunting again. Working for ad agencies, delivered newspapers, washed floors and scrubbed sinks, fried fish, babysit the neighborhood brats and even worked as a real estate broker's assistant just to make sure my bills are all paid.

This went on for two years before I found the job I'm in now.

[Jeremy Pluta]

I work full-time in radio running the Midday air shift and doing production on commercials and such.

[Amanda Kondolojy]

funny you should say that...my second job is in radio too....

Although I work about 20 hours a week on the promotions side of things. ^_^

[Lucy Newman]

Cool. Seems like everyone Ive met on the broadcasting side of the house have worked in the print side as well. Kinda like how anime and video games seem to go hand in hand. hmmmm.....something to ponder.

[Pat 'iTZKooPA' Mulhern]

Maybe it's time to start and anime/videogame mag/radio station?!