World Sci-Fi Convention Panels -3

Posted by Colin Harvey Aug 28, 2008

I attended three panels at Denvention, the last of which was to discuss living as a full-time writer. I was joined by SFWA president Russell Davis, Steve Miller, and Robin Owens.

I was moderating, which allowed me to sit back and listen to two very experienced pros and a newer writer (Owens) talk about nearly a century of combined writing experience.

The first thing that surprised me is that many full-time writers encounter periods when they have to hold down a full or part-time job to tide them over unforeseen cash-flow problems. Given that that's my current situation (my wife's pay vanished due to a 'computer error' in July), and I'd felt something of a fraud sitting on the panel as a 'full-time writer,' this was quite a relief.

Advice:

-Write every day

-Plan, plan, and keep re-planning -especially finances

-Pay off every single debt that you can afford to before giving up the day job

Don't rule out going back to A day job; it doesn't have to be the old one, if you can work less hours or for less money (ergo less involvement).

Choose carefully where to live (this can make an enormous difference to living costs)

Sell projects based on proposals rather than completed ms (only applies to the established writer)

Two postscripts:

1. Writing gets better and is easier to write, because of practicing the craft every day. This is so self-evident that it's often overlooked.

2. Writing as a full-time job brings pressures --deadline, multi-tasking-- that 'hobbyists' never feel. That's why established writers try to put off aspirant full-timers -- there's no way to describe how it feels.

But the rewards are that the writer is their own boss, and when the job is done, it's hugely satisfying to be able to pick what to do with the rest of one's day.