The phrase "sell out" applied to those who get traditional jobs

One should never look down on another person for doing what they must in order to meet their obligations. Whether it is writing what the market demands so that there is freedom and time to work on other projects or keeping a hated day job.

It's also necessary to remember that it's quite possible to have more than one passion in life. One can love writing and love doing and being something else, too.

As long as it's not illegal* or infringing on other's free will, what business is it of anyone's what you (or I) do to pay the bills?


*Even some of what's illegal really isn't anyone else's business.

Good point, Birol. It's NOT.

the daughter has to eat.

Writing comes after that.

Who said that working a day job was a sell-out? How ignorant! The great artistic tradition is to have a miserable day job*, so that one could suffer for one's art! In fact, if you don't have a miserable day (or afternoon or night) job, then I say you're overcoddled, and I say the hell with it.

* Stay-at-home mom or dad counts. I refuse to rob you of your rightful claim to misery.

Phaeal thinks I'm overcoddled, for the time being...

But I'm a sellout and proud, thank you very much. I design everything I write to be as entertaining for my target audience as I can possibly make it. That means deliberately selecting characters, plot, premise, setting, etc. specifically to appeal to my readers. And I'm willing to change any and all of it, if I think that'll make my stories better.

Gotta pay the bills somehow!

Add to blacbird's list:

Stephen King, whose miserable day jobs included laundry work and maggot-infested linens.

Anthony Trollope, who rose through the ranks of the English Post Office.

blacbird said:

Charles Dickens was an instant success as a fiction writer and never had to do anything else again in his life.

Click to expand...

Prior to literary success, Dickens worked in a bootblacking factory, as a law clerk, as a stenographer, and as a journalist. He paid his dues.

Wow...if I'm a sell-out, would that work as an excuse to not pay the massive student loan debt from going to law school?

I guess public service law is a sell-out? Huh. If I'm a sell-out, I'd make more money than this.

I agree with williebee. Work is what pays the bills, and sometimes gives you fulfillment in other ways. Writing happens whether you get paid for it or not. Getting paid for it is a bonus, but it's a reward in and of itself.