(This question is part of a larger subseries called Perpetual WIPs: Published Authors. For the remaining questions, see here.)
Are you a full-time author, and how did you make the decision to be or not to be one?
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I am. I was tremendously lucky with my advance. There was never any question about quitting my secretarial day job, which was only ever a means to pay the bills. I do also teach writing workshops for children, and I think if I had to go back to working another job, I’d try to pursue more opportunities like that.
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No, I work part time at a real job. I would turn into a crazy hermit if I tried to be a full-time author. Plus, I like having a minimum guaranteed income.
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I’m a full-time author and full-time mom to younger children. For me, I wanted writing to be my career, and since I was able to devote the time, I treated it like it was my career before I was able to be profitable at it.
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I became a full time author after my writing income doubled my day job salary, and I had an entire year’s income sitting in the bank. I’ve been a full time author for the better part of a decade, and I’ve always had the “get a day job countdown” going on — looking at my income stream and trying to figure out when I need to sell another book or go back to work. The problem is, after this long being a full time writer, I don’t know if I have any other marketable skills.
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I am. It’s so much work, I can’t imagine having to work a full time job too.
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It depends what you mean by full-time. At various points, I have worked 24/7 on a writing project, but at other times, just a few hours per day when kids were napping. Writing is a part of my day (or night), whether or not something is going to be published, so I never have a day off. Financially, no, my writing does not entirely support my family, and I am lucky to have a partner with a steady income so that I can go through the financial ups and downs of being a writer. At some points I have been more prolific than others as I balanced my career as a teacher and educator with writing and raising kids. It’s just who I am, and writing is a part of my life and career, rather than something separate.
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I am an author with a day job. Mostly, I decided to keep my day job because I’m a big fan of things like “health insurance” and “being able to pay my rent.” But it’s not exactly a hardship, since I work in the publishing industry by day, and it’s a pretty great industry to be in.
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The Daily Dahlia 