No, I Don't Write For Free

Image via Flickr by nociveglia

I am a mercenary writer. A word mule. My pen is on the street, hooking.

That's why I so rarely get to writing on my own blog. And strangely, with nothing written since August, October was the highest traffic month in the history of this site.

Probably some weird internet math there. It's still mostly meaningless.

Instead of a journal of what I'm up to, this has become the diary of stuff I thought I'd do.

The murder mystery is still in the works, but I don't write for free. My experience with publishing fiction and poetry tells me it's wasted effort.

Yup, that's blunt to say. But all you idealistic artists out there: learn how to make money. Do that and then you'll have the time, freedom and space to write art.

"Starving artist" is one of the most true cliches out there. That's what almost every full-time artist does. The universe doesn't pay us.

Meanwhile, I'm actually writing for money more that ever. I'm back on the Bright Hub horse and I'll put together six pieces on being an entrepreneur this month. A couple College Factual pieces, too. I have a bit going into the CopyPress blog later this month, also.

I finally landed a part-time work-from-home gig that's giving me about 20 hours a week. I write for an Amazon retailer that is branching into support and education for other retailers. I write emails, product descriptions, blog entries and whatever else. Like a true word mule.

My restaurant job is taking a seasonal down-turn. Don't look now, but I'm actually working and earning more writing from home than I am at a restaurant. I wish the hospitality job would produce more and make it a tougher competition.

It was one of my goals and now I reached it. Still not making enough to support a house and three kids, but I'm grinding.

The Marcel novel is predictably on hold. I have no time for both word-muling and creative writing. That's how it is.

Yet somewhere in the back of my mind I'm thinking about the ebook business. Our primary purpose at my new writing job is to help people sell physical products on Amazon.

There are many differences between selling ebooks and sprockets, but somehow the people I work with must be able to help authors too.

I'm learning everyday. I'll find a way.

Unless you have a nickel-a-word for the next paragraph, I'm stopping here. I need to get back to work.