Author John Scalzi offers some profoundly useful guidance to writers about money, correctly diagnosing most of us having as much financial sense “as chimps on crack.”
It’s a long essay, and I recommend you absorb every word of it. Here are his top points:
1. You’re a writer. Prepared to be broke.
2. Don’t quit your day job.
3. Marry (or otherwise shack up with) someone sensible with money, who has a real job.
4. Your income is half of what you think it is.
5. Pay off your credit cards NOW and then use them like cash later.
6. Don’t have the cash for it? You can’t have it.
7. When you do buy something, buy the best you can afford — and then run it into the ground.
8. Unless you have a truly compelling reason to be there, get the hell out of New York/LA/San Francisco.
9. Know the entire writing market and place value on your own work.
10. Writing is a business. Act like it.
Hilariously, in my marriage I’m the one with the real job. My wife is a full time self-employed artist. I’m a writer, but a salaried one.
February 13th, 2008
If you listened to the show where I interviewed game editor Eric Franklin and were intrigued by his description of Asmodee’s HellDorado, you’ll be happy to know that the official English rules are now available. Check it out!
Man, it looks like Unit A is in a peck of trouble. Run, Unit A! Run!
January 21st, 2008
Joyce Gorsuch is an accomplished media professional who has produced radio programs for the award-winning daily news show “State of Nevada” at Nevada Public Radio. As a freelance writer and editor she has created content on topics ranging from rice research to silent films to commercial real estate development.
Joyce’s home page: http://www.mediabistro.com/joycegorsuch
December 22nd, 2007
Wade continues his poolside conversation with freelance writer Joyce Gorsuch in Las Vegas. Joyce discusses returning to America, breaking into the local magazine market, how she finds work, and her advice to young writers. Also: Wade copies his wife’s Art History class notes from 1989 for a writing assignment. Don’t tell the professor or he’ll be totally busted!
Writing For Pay Ep. 007 - Joyce Gorsuch Pt. 2 [19:31m]:
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December 22nd, 2007
Awesome WFP listener Charles Tan hepped me to the fact that the MP3 download link for the new episode was broken. That’s weird, I thought, I tested it as soon as the show was posted and it worked fine.
Well, right after testing the link I’d enabled PodTrac on this site to collect stats on how many times the shows are downloaded. To accomplish this, PodTrac somehow redirects the download through its service - and THAT was what broke. I’ve disabled PodTrac for the nonce, and all is well again. Sorry about the inconvenience!
November 20th, 2007
Wade goes on vacation in Las Vegas and find himself poolside with Joyce Gorsuch, a freelance writer with heavy NPR connections. In Part One, Joyce talks about the gala event she covered the night before and her work with various international clients. Then Wade’s flight gets delayed, so he records the show’s outro while sitting on the runway.
Show notes at http://writingforpay.org
November 17th, 2007
Oh, and also: I tinkered with the categories a little to help make it easier for you to find the individual episodes and show notes on this site.
The episodes can be found in the Podcast category.
The show notes can be found in Show Notes.
November 12th, 2007
I’m workin’ on it, I’m workin’ on it! In fact, right this very second I’m editing my interview with Joyce Gorsuch.
I’ve had a lot on my plate lately. Too much for anyone’s good, probably–I suspect that I’m somewhat overcommitted with my work and volunteer obligations. I’m trying to sort things out so that instead of doing a lot of things erratically, I can do a few important things consistently.
I just got back from Blog World Expo 2007, where I got to meet some of my podcasting role models and bask in the light of their wisdom. Look, I can prove it! Here are photos of Leo Laporte, Scott Bourne, and Alex Lindsay from my Flickr photoset:
Also DJ Steveboy:
…who up until Thursday night I knew primarily as talented science fiction writer Steve Boyett. Now he’s a very successful DJ and podcaster which, y’know, is probably a hell of a lot more fun than writing.
One of the panels I attended was about choosing the right equipment for your home recording studio. If any of y’all have been wondering if I’d be offended if you sent me a Rode Podcaster microphone, I can assure that that I WOULD NOT.
So to circle back around: yes, new episode. Soon. In fact, how about I set a deadline? You’ll get a new show by this Saturday. If I fail to deliver you can line up and kick me in the junk.
November 12th, 2007
“I just woke up and I’m going to lunch with my friend Robert Crumb. Then I will listen to records. It sure beats writing but doesn’t pay as well, unfortunately. You can’t get a health plan listening to old records.”
- Terry Zwigoff on the writers’ strike
A shout out to our brothers and sisters in the Writers Guild of America. As Zwigoff points out, they’re making sacrifices to ensure that as movies and television go digital, creators are fairly compensated for their work.
Check out Jake McKee’summary of what’s at stake here.
November 6th, 2007
Eric Franklin posted his own show notes (and some clarifications) for the episode in which I interviewed him! Read them on his blog.
October 15th, 2007
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