Question - would you pick money and easy life over what you want to do?

I didnt even have to consider before i knew it had to be NO.

What sort of life would that be anyway, if you had to go to a job you hated every day?

I've been rich and I've been poor. There wasn't much difference except I ate better food.

It's pretty much what happened to me years ago. The job was ok though and it let me save a big chunk of money I still manage to live on.

To answer your question, it depends if I'd have to lose any hope of writing ever. If so, it'd be a big no-no. Otherwise, just for a few years, I'd put up with the ban on writing to fund the following writing years.

Yes. I've been living paycheck to paycheck, the stress of making ends meet beats me down every day. I"m tired of the battle with bills and phone calls and borrowing from Peter to pay Paul.

The easy life, no question.

There are some jobs I would love to try, and would even be willing to suffer financial hardship along the way, except for the fact that I have children in college. I have worked the last fifteen years in a good-paying but sometimes mind-numbing management position, so I could provide for my babies.

All things considered, writing (in my spare time) has given me the creative outlet I desperately needed, and has also made me feel better about my (other) job.

MacAllister said:

This is an easy one, Nique. I already walked away from a secure job, making good money, because I was bored. (Also, it made my stomach hurt.)

I don't actually know what my dream career is, but I know I want to live my life actually being interested in what I'm doing.

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I didn't read it that way. For me boredom with acid reflux is not an easy life. So I'll take the 100 million and never write another word.

Julie Worth said:

I didn't read it that way. For me boredom with acid reflux is not an easy life. So I'll take the 100 million and never write another word.

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Actually, I read it that way as well. I thought the question would be, take th emoney and run, and get out of the writing "business". The answer to that would be yes; I'd take th emoney, run, an djust write for the fun of it, not caring about the business.
But then I read Nique's definitions, and voted no.
I've already "sacrificed" a job I hated in order to write. It's really tough right now but I have faith that one day it'll be easier. I would not go back to that job - well, if you paid me!

aruna said:

Actually, I read it that way as well. I thought the question would be, take th emoney and run, and get out of the writing "business". The answer to that would be yes; I'd take th emoney, run, an djust write for the fun of it, not caring about the business.
But then I read Nique's definitions, and voted no.
I've already "sacrificed" a job I hated in order to write. It's really tough right now but I have faith that one day it'll be easier. I would not go back to that job - well, if you paid me!

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Serves me right for not reading the definitions! And now I’m stuck with a hundred million, the dollar’s been devalued, and it’s hardly worth burning the stuff in my wood stove.

I already have my dream job--I get to take care of my kids. Really.

Rob

I walked away from a full-time lucrative job with lots of nice travel and stays in swanky hotels (medical writing). I still freelance to pay some bills (daycare is expensive here) but now focus on fiction. It's where my heart lies. The full-time job just about killed my spirit.

So my answer would be no, especially if I couldn't write anymore.

Nique Zoolio said:

lets say that you have been offered a fairly comfortable life, where you probably won't have to worry about money, fashion trends or even the environment but its in a career which you wouldn't enjoy. say, if you don't like sports you've been offered a role in a big team. or if you don't like acting etc....

but you would have to sacrifice any hope of writing (or something that you would want to do instead).

what would you do and why?

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I lived that, man. I was doing something I didn't even hate -- just not very passionate about -- making great money, traveling around the world, blah blah blah and my friends thought I was crazy to consider quitting so I could write. But I did. There came a time in my life when I must say, "now or never."

(I can make money other ways -- freelance, consulting -- but you've got to go for your dream)


A comfortable life without passion and dreams is a slow death.

A comfortable life without passion and dreams is a slow death.

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Indeed. I quit my job in August for this exact reason. I picked NO.

I have my dream job too, which I don't do for the paycheck! Of course, since I've been on medical leave for the past few weeks, I'm starting to enjoy being sedentary.

At this point, I am totally primed to sell out to the highest bidder. I even have a bumper sticker that says "Ask Me What My Price Is."

Odds are this will pass, but right now? Show me the money.

Question - would you pick money and easy life over what you want to do?

LOL, having been a teacher and now a writer, I'd have to say I've always picked doing what I wanted to do over the money.

I can't vote on this, the choices are unsupportable.

Nique Zoolio said:

ahoy one and all!

lets say that you have been offered a fairly comfortable life, where you probably won't have to worry about money, fashion trends or even the environment but its in a career which you wouldn't enjoy. say, if you don't like sports you've been offered a role in a big team. or if you don't like acting etc....

but you would have to sacrifice any hope of writing (or something that you would want to do instead).

what would you do and why?

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Um the only way one would have to sacrifice any hope of writing is if the chosen 'comfy' carreer ended in certain death.

I know people who have done jobs they dispised for years while their children grew up and they had to take care of aged parents and the second the financial ends were tied up, they quit the jobs, moved out to the boonies and do what they want ( be it raising gourmet herbs, trying to start a winery, or running a bed and breakfast).

So, to me this question is semi meaningless.
At the moment I am at a crossroads. I can move up on the ladder, but that would mean s much O/T that I would either have to stop writing for a few years or I'd have to stop 'being mom' for a few years. Since kids whose moms ignore them become menaces to society, guess what I could be forced to choose?
(Footnote: I'm broke broke broke, every time this choice has come up I've taken art and family over big bucks. I'm kinda dumb.)

maestrowork said:

A comfortable life without passion and dreams is a slow death.

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That's my dream life. Not slow death. Living under the stress of constant money problems is the slow death full of painful ulcers, acid relux, high blood pressure, and headaches.

Besides, I'm already in a career I don't enjoy, have been for a long time, with no end in sight. The only change in this scenario would be that I'd get better wages.

Every time I walked away from my dream to take a job that paid better, I ended up miserable.

Just faced this a few months ago. My husband and I are both working part-time to allow creative time for each of our pursuits. Then along comes a "regular" job staring me in the face at [gulp] $70k [or higher]. I declined.

That said, being broke is really stressful, and there were times in the past when good fortune smiled on us as we stared over the financial precipice. We aren't that bad right now, but we have gone through most of our savings buffer, and we've had to regularly reassess our finances to make sure we aren't about to sink into debt. It's a very delicate balancing act.

Shadow_Ferret said:

Besides, I'm already in a career I don't enjoy, have been for a long time, with no end in sight. The only change in this scenario would be that I'd get better wages.

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If/when you do get better pay, I guarantee that you'll still be miserable.

Being broke is stressful and unhealthy and stuff, and after a while, one does figure it's better comfortable and unhappy than broke and unhappy. That's the reality. But I don't think Nique was asking about "reality" because each person's reality is different than the next. But ideally, going through life doing something you hate or just don't really care while you could be doing something you DO like and care, just for the money, is a waste of life -- IMHO.

I'm a doofus. I got over excited to click on a poll and hit the wrong one. I meant to put "No". D'oh!!!!!

I DID give up a cushy job to follow my dream. I felt stressed, empty, and always tired even though I had a lot of money. But I really didn't have a lot because I was spending it all to fill my creative void. So I ended up with no money, stress, and unhappy. Plus I was getting sick more often, caring less about life, less about work. I was in a death spiral. Then I did the exact opposite a lot of people would do. I quit that job with no prospects of another job, relocated to another city, and focused more on me instead of my money. I started with less than nothing.

That was 3 and a half years ago. Now, I've rebuilt my life around my creative endeavors and with a job that pays half of what I made before. And I couldn't be happier.

So I guess I'm not so much of a doofus. Just a little over-zealous at times.

you have been offered a fairly comfortable life, where you probably won't have to worry about money, fashion trends or even the environment but its in a career which you wouldn't enjoy

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What a question! I vote yes! I wouldn't have to worry about the environment? Where is this job anyway?

As long as you aren't forced to work more than 40/50 hours per week and have vacations, life can be good. You still have your time off to do as you please and you don't have to worry about money.


Somedays my dream life is sitting in the sun. Other days its going to bed early. Every part of everyday, I want to be a published author .........but not enough to edit my book and self publish it. I don't have the patience or determination to shop for agents anymore, and have been on the table of major publishing houses I submitted to all by myself, only to be let down. "memoirs are hard sells."



Then I have to ask myself "why do I want to publish a book, anyway?" Is it to prove to something to somebody? Like, maybe my old High School principal who didn't bother saying hello to me in the halls, but went out of his way to speak to my friend? Or, perhaps its the mother of my best friend who thought I was evil and wouldn't allow her daughter to play with me anymore. (I was 3.) Maybe I want to prove something to the other side of my family. They all went to college on the sweat of my father's brow........he paid their tuitions and then he died, leaving nothing for me. Now, the 3 who became professionals all have children who are becoming professionals.

Wouldn't it be nice to have them sit up and take notice of me?

Sure.

But isn't that envy and jealousy and all kinds of other sinful and unnattractive earthly desires talking?

So, why do I want to be published?


Do I need a pat on the back from strangers?