Today's Lesson

My former thesis advisor (who I should add is an amazing professor) invited me to speak to her class today about freelance writing, music writing, etc.  While I have spoken to classes a few times before, I always find it a strange, exciting experience.  I don't consider myself to be all-knowing, but in two years of actively pursuing freelance employment, I've gained a lot of practical knowledge that I thought might benefit college journalism students, many of whom, if they choose to pursue a career in the field, will end up working freelance.  I'll post some of the ideas from the lecture/dialogue here over the course of a few posts, just in case you're interested.

I told the class that I have a day job.  I don't even tell most of my friends that I have a non-journo job, mostly because there's a sense of embarrassment about the whole thing, like I'm not a real writer because 100% of my income is not based on my writing.

I told the class because I thought they should absolutely no illusions about the freelance life.  It's not easy.  Yes, I have a day job.  If the economy weren't so scary and if I didn't have a mountain of student debt (which they, too, will most likely have to pay back soon), then I wouldn't need the day job as most of my income comes from freelancing.  But that's not the reality of living in Los Angeles in 2008. I fortunately, have a part-time job with flexible hours and bosses who know and understand what I do.  That makes it a lot easier than my last pre-journalism job, which was completely inflexible and chock full of responsibility.

The problem with day jobs isn't necessarily the lack of time (although that is a dilemma, one I solved by not sleeping), it's the number it does on your self-esteem.  Writers, artists, musicians, actors, these are fields where no one takes you seriously unless you're rich and famous.  Hell, even people in my own family don't take my writing seriously.  I'll admit, I was hurt by people's reactions at first, then I thought about it.  Teachers take on second jobs all the time, particularly during the summer months, but they're still teachers.  Does anybody talk about how so-and-so is working as a bartender because he/she can't cut it as a teacher?

My point being, we're writers first.  That's our job.  Anything we do on the side is just that, a side gig to help supplement our incomes.  There's no shame in that.