Pro vs. Amateur

Ever since the day I started getting paid for my writing (most of you on this board weren't born yet...most of the world wasn't born yet) I have found it very difficult to write in the absense of a contract.

Back in the olde amateur days, I was a typing machine, finishing one draft of a novel in the morning and starting the next draft that afternoon. My notebook was always filled with ideas.

Now, I've stopped writing non-fiction books because my previous sales weren't big enough. I figured, if I'm not going to get paid, I may as well write fiction.

But with a novel circulating to agents (who may or may not investigate my track record), I can't summon up the emotional capital to invest in another spec project.

Sometimes I long for those amateur days when it was only about the writing. But then I write a few pages and say, "I don't have time for unpaid work."

Then I'll waste an hour playing Scrabble on the Internet when I certainly could have started a blog in that time.

Truth is, I was looking forward to spending my reclining (declining) years the way I spent my teens and twenties, typing eight hours a day.

Now I think TV and Solitaire might be more appealing.

PeeDee said:

The older I get, the more I find both my writing volume and my sales increasing.

I see what you mean, though, because I have things (like my comic book scripts for example) that I would never have bothered to have written/started writing if someone hadn't said "Okay, we'd like to have those."

Most of the fiction still comes out for fun, though. I think that's important.

Click to expand...

Advice coming from House, I'll have to accept. But I should add, I've been an accomplished napper for many years already. I can fall asleep and miss my stop in an elevator.
Maybe once I'm retired (I've still got a ways to go, assuming I survive the latest wave of layoffs) I won't be so controlled by money (Scrabble on the Internet is getting too easy anyway).
I guess I should start a blog (maybe I'll collect all my old posts here), but what if nobody came?

Julie Worth said:

Googlebot will come.

Click to expand...

That's what I'm afraid of.

SeanDSchaffer said:

It could be that you're going through a dark portion of your writing life where all the world around you seems dead and the darkness feels like it will never end. But you have to remind yourself, that things do get better. Have faith in your abilities; you're a professional, and you've been getting paid for your writing for years. You can make this work. Don't give up.

Click to expand...

Sean, I am taking this to heart. I believe there are angels lurking here, just as there are in the so-called real world. They come along to lift your spirits, in one way or another, when you need them. I'm not sure what I had in mind when I posted this, but I appreciate your sentiments.

I am reminded of Willie Mays, at the height of his fame gleefully playing stickball on the streets of the Bronx.

But that doesn't mean I'm going to spend three years writing something at less than 10 cents a word.

The truth is, the going rate for writers is pretty much the same as when I started out. That's because so many writers would gladly work for free.

Doug Johnson said:

Yep. Professional writers are like prostitutes; they're trying to get paid for what everyone else is willing to give away for free.

Click to expand...

To make that analogy really work, you'd have to assume that prostitutes would provide the best sex ever.
But then I watch something on HBO like Atlantic City and they're more like dime a dozen hacks.

triceretops said:

I long for the old days too. It seemed everybody wanted my work, and there was no end to the white hot inspiration. My hiatus was too long, and I feel I'm not that known quantity any more. I'm starting over in the cyber age and I'm still not used to this...abuse. I can only forge on and out-last those who say that it's time to give up. I feel like a Sears Diehard battery. Only they're so out of vogue now.

Tri

Click to expand...

Boy do I identify with that whole statement. Even though my hiatus consists of a very high profile job, I haven't produced a lot of published writing in a decade. But up to this year, I never even had to query an agent. Friends would recommend me to their agents or editors. Once I had to cold call an agent who used to be an editor. I identified myself and he said, "Yes, I'm familiar with your work." Two months later I had another book deal.
Now, it's like this all happened before a generation of agents and editors were even born.
So, like you, I'm driven by what drove me in the beginning: the determination to prove them all wrong all over again.

I do often feel, when I go through periods where I'm not writing much, like a great musician, John Coltrane, say, whose horn is at the pawn shop.

But, basically, as I survey the terrain, the few areas where I could probably pick up work easily, seem demeaning for someone of my former caliber.

An idea did strike me for what I feel would be an extremely relevant personal essay, something perfect for the NY Times, whose publication would then lead to agents calling to ask me to turn it into a book....

But luckily a football game on TV intervened and the feeling passed.

Not to be too gloomy about this, though, I know if an agent called tomorrow, I'd have a million new ideas by Wednesday.