A much-ignored subject. John Gardner devotes a few pages to it in his book On Becoming a Novelist. As far as I know, he is the only author to do so in print. I quote some of his remarks below.
This list is divided into the following categories:
Teacher
Pros:
- "College teachers get the summer off and even in the winter are likely to find more time for writing than almost anybody else except the full-time hobo." --John Gardner in On Becoming a Novelist, 1983 (p. 114)
Cons:
- There aren't many jobs available in this field.
- Much education-- usually a masters or even a PhD-- is required.
Tree Planter
Tree planters, as the name suggests, plant new trees in areas where loggers have clear-cut. They work only in the summer, but if they work fast, they can make enough money to live on all year. Read testimony from someone who has done this (the article is on the lower half of the page). This article is from a Canadian career-planning magazine called Canada Prospects.Pros:
- The whole winter off to work on your art.
- You'll gain physical strength and lose weight.
Cons:
- Back-breaking work.
- A whole summer spent roughing it in the woods (for campers and nature-lovers, this might be a pro).
Farmer
Farmers work very hard at certain times of the year, but during the winter they have a more relaxed schedule. Click here to read about my experiences with farming.
Contract Computer Programmer
Pros:
- You can take a contract for a certain length of time (say, six months) and devote a period of time following that to writing.
- Demand for services is usually high, as is the salary. Update: The technical boom is now going bust, and the services of Computer Programmers are not in as much demand as they used to be.
Cons:
- Lacks the security of a permanent position.
- Programmers need to constantly update their knowledge.
- Lots of training and experience in the field is required.
- Not everyone has the skill to be a Programmer.
Journalist
The traditional choice. When I was growing up and the need to choose a career was looming up ahead, everyone suggested I become a Journalist. (No thank you.)Technical Writer
This pays extremely well and those who can do it are in demand. However, it requires ability in two fields, writing and some sort of science or engineering, depending on what type of technical writing you are doing. Not many writers are Engineers or Scientists, and not many Engineers or Scientists can write their collective way out of a paper bag. This narrows the field for the lucky few.In contrast to the other professions in this category, those listed below actually involve fiction writing:
Pornographic Writer (or other type of formulaic writing)
Pros:
- Formulaic fiction is more in demand and pays better than other types of fiction. This is especially true of pornography.
Cons:
- You can lose the ability to write in any other genre, or so I have heard. Mary Ann Mohanraj mentions this in her article How to Sell Sex Stories, even though she herself has not had this problem. By the way, if you are interested in this field, you owe it to yourself to have a look at her page.
T.V./Movie Writer
Pros:
- Well paid.
Cons:
"T.V. and film devour more brilliance and imagination than a thousand minotaurs." --John Gardner in On Becoming a Novelist<, 1983 (p. 69)
- Hard to break into.
- Hard to write around commercial breaks.
Thus, if you choose to work at something typically part time, such as office work, you may have to resign yourself to a life of poverty and an absence of RRSP. Obviously a bad bargain. One way to deal with this is to learn to live very cheaply. [I hope to come up with links on the subject at a later date.]
Another possibility is to take on a job that is full time, work there a year or two, then try to talk your boss into allowing you to cut down your hours. Once you have proven yourself to an employer, she or he is more likely to let you get away with that. The trouble with this option is that you are putting your life on hold, waiting that extra year or two before doing what you love, and such a decision brings with it the risk that you will get hit by a bus and die before your waiting period is over. Since no one knows how much time they've got, I believe this is not a risk worth taking. However, everyone must make the decision for themselves.
Part Time Office Clerk
Pros:
- Short days, leaving more time and energy to write in the evenings. With the advent of flex-time, you can choose to squash all your working hours into Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, leaving Friday free for writing.
Cons:
- Low pay. I went this route myself, and decided that I want more money. And what with my bachelor's degree and four years of programming experience, I felt entitled to it. It's hard to embrace a life of poverty when you have other options.
Temporary Office Clerk
You sign up with a temp agency, and they send you to work at different offices. You may work at a full-time assignment, but once it's over, you can choose to take some time off to write.Pros:
- The temp agency will give you benefits, which you probably won't receive as a part-time office clerk.
- If you want to learn a new skill, such as how to use a new software, the agency will train you.
- You avoid boredom by moving to different jobs and doing different things.
Cons:
- See above entry regarding pay.
- As soon as you make friends and grow comfortable in your new surroundings, you have to go somewhere else.
- You may have to try more than one agency to find one you like. For example, I signed up with a branch of Kelly Services in downtown Montreal, and discovered that new employees only got sent on the cruddy little jobs that no one else wanted, and which only lasted one day. If I had to rely on them for work I would have starved to death.
Google has a category for job sharing:
http://directory.google.com/Top/Society/Work/Job_Sharing/
Last updated Dec. 14, 2001.