Where To Begin??

You definitely don't have to have a degree in writing to earn a career as a writer (and that's coming from someone who does have a degree in writing!). Writing samples in a portfolio can be anything, and are usually tailored to the job you're applying for. I had a job for a year writing instructional content for an Army contractor, so my portfolio for a job like that would be very different than if I'd applied to a literary magazine.

Advice: Keep writing, and try to duct tape that little nagging voice in the back of your head that makes you fret over whether your writing is worth it at all. Every writer in the world has that voice, but only the ones who listen to it give up on writing entirely. Practice, have other people critique your work, and write some more. It's cliche, but it's true! It's like Stephen King said in On Writing: read a lot, and write a lot.

And the community here is a good place to hang out and hone your craft, too!

Hi, ficklefictionfest. You apparently wish to become a successful novelist. Good for you. But, realistically, despite enthusiasm, that won't happen overnight and chances are the writing of novels won't keep you alive and in food and clothes until success is achieved, and that can take years.

I do hope you manage to find even temporary work to ease the financial worries.

And a degree isn't needed to be able to write novels. Reading and practising are great learning tools.

The Share-Your-Work Forum here can also be helpful. Until you have the required 50 posts to open a thread there, focus on critiquing the work of others. There's no better way of learning how to identify flaws in our own work than reading and finding perceived flaws in the work of others.

Welcome, ficklefictionfest, and hang in there.

Writing is very hard and it's a fact that the majority of writers cannot sustain themselves with their writing alone. That is why most have day jobs.

It's a tough fact, but it's true.

Nonetheless, keep trying and hang in there! Also, you don't need a degree to be a writer. As mentioned, reading and writing-- A LOT, is the best way to improve your writing skills.

Keep at it!

Having letters after your name is not important.
What is important is to have a degree of:
resilience
imagination
determination
command of your chosen language

and other things i'm sure...........
Good luck.

I'm also of the opinion that anyone can hone their craft. Your definition of success may be different from someone else. In my world, having a book on a shelf in the the store is success. It doesn't matter if I make five hundred bucks or five million. It's not the point for me. On a witty, sarcastic note, I have a husband that supports us financially and I don't have to worry about the making money part. You may want to pick up some free lance work if making money is your goal to support yourself.

ficklefictionfest said:

Hello!

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Hi!

ficklefictionfest said:

While I joined this lovely lovely community a few weeks ago with the hopes of improving my writing by reading everyone's thoughts and opinions on different styles, I find myself set back because of financial worries and constant worry about my writing.

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Well, a few weeks isn't much time. Malcolm Gladwell suggested that it takes 10,000 hours of dedicated practice to master anything. (There are some studies that disagree, but at a goal it isn't a bad one.) And don't let worrying keep you from writing- it doesn't do a lick of good and when you get to the end of the worry you don't have anything to show for it.

ficklefictionfest said:

I write when I can but I do not know how to jumpstart my writing as a career path while I haven't earned a degree yet.

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I think everyone has pretty well covered the 'You don't need a degree' element, but if it would make you feel better you might try a copy of diyMFA by Gabriela Pereira. Or taking an online class. Or just reading the stickies and asking lots of questions.

ficklefictionfest said:

I have no idea how to or what to include in doing a portfolio and what samples I could make and have presented when I'm asked for a writing sample by a job posting I found.

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You're going to want to tailor the portfolio to the job. Ask yourself "What kind of things would I be writing if I got this job?" Then write a couple of whatever those are. Again, ask us questions. There are forum boards for Nonfiction, and for Blog Posts/Podcasts/Social Media, and one for Freelance Writing that would be very helpful if that's the kind of work you're doing.
If you're expecting to make it big overnight in the fictional realm, this is the part where I pinch you cause you're dreaming, Dorothy. This is a long, time consuming process, which more often than not doesn't even end up paying for itself. You do it because you love it, not because it's going to make you rich.

ficklefictionfest said:

I find myself set back because of financial worries and constant worry about my writing. I write when I can but I do not know how to jumpstart my writing as a career path while I haven't earned a degree yet. I have no idea how to or what to include in doing a portfolio and what samples I could make and have presented when I'm asked for a writing sample by a job posting I found.

If you guys have any advice at all, I'd love to hear them. I knew writing was going to be a hard path to follow, I just want to hear some guidance.

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Even full-time writers sometimes have financial worries (and worry about their writing, too!). Yet they still continue writing, improving and getting on with things, regardless. It's not all cozy-cozy for everybody who writes. Writing can be done in most circumstances, if you try to shut off those worries and focus on writing instead. It may take some effort, that's normal . Even famous writers sometimes had to write in dire circumstances and still managed to produce great works.

What exactly do you mean by "writing career"? Writing short stories, novels, articles, blogs, screenplays, poems... ? There are a lot of writing careers out there. You can write video games or greeting cards, too. Just decide what you want to write and write some of that. Then you can use it as a sample when somebody asks.

The key to being a writer is writing. Also remember that you don't just have to make money from writing novels. Every word you read was written by someone and there are a lot of people making money that way.

In the meantime, keep pounding out words.

*starts humming Do-Re-Me*

In seriousness, writing is the best place to start. With every subsequent book/story/script, you'll get better. In theory, at any rate.

There is no career without a written product.

Start with writing.

Dave.C.Robinson said:

The key to being a writer is writing. Also remember that you don't just have to make money from writing novels. Every word you read was written by someone and there are a lot of people making money that way.

In the meantime, keep pounding out words.

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Completely agree. Sage words.

Lee Child turned to writing when he was fired. He had six months worth of severence pay, and he decided to use them, and wrote the first Jack Reacher adventure.
Therefore it can be done, if one has focus, discipline, and inherent storytelling talent. I think Mickey Spillane and John D Macodnald have similar bits in their biographies.

Mario Puzo wrote The Godfather "for the money", and yet it's a super book.

I think if a beginner writer is really trying to make a go of it, then they should swallow their pride, pick up the simplest currently popular book of today, and reverse engineer the snot out of them, and then produce their own variation. If this works out, later, with time, a more personal style can still appear.

If a writer wants to go into thrillers--fine. Analyze the news, pick a topic that is sure to push buttons, wrap an adventure around it, and off it goes.

That's all in theory. In practice, all this "I'm running out of money and very nervous" stuff sounds like a way to screw up one's life and health, both physical and mental.

Constant low-key stress even by itself alone can be enough to do terrible things to the endocrine system, the levels of cortisol and histamine, deplete the adrenal glands, kill off gut flora, and slowly turn a person into a clinically depressed patient with stomach uclers who is constantly battling additional mysterious autoimmune conditions. Not to mention the resulting temptation to muffle it all with booze and dope.

I'd say this route is utterly, totally, and completely not recommended, not, not, not. Life under constant existential stress should be evaded whenever possible, and softened in any reasonable way.

As others have said--some job that keeps one afloat but leaves space for writing is probably a very good idea. Many writers started out like that, and only quit their jobs on the third or fifth book, or even enjoyed both and wrote popular and award winning books without ever leaving work until old age retirement. Like Clifford Simak, for example.