creating

There’s No Money In Writing: Oh The Humanities!

Preface: I wrote this September 11th, 2016, totally despondent from being asked to freelance for free. I hated how little recognition and support the humanities seemed to get, especially when you consider how much they give and do for everyone. And the thing is, I still feel this way. Although, I would consider myself less of a cynic now than when I wrote this originally. I think it’s important to understand what the arts does for everyone.

I also think that it’s important to note that asking someone to work for free or working for “exposure,” is an unethical and, frankly, non-capitalistic thing to do. Goods and/or services = compensation. I digress…

 

 

THERE’S NO MONEY IN WRITING!!!

 

Well, there is but there isn’t.

 

I was discussing the turnover rates at work and what our employers were doing and not doing to combat potential issues, when my coworker surprised me by saying, “I expect you’d be in a newspaper, not here.”

I shocked myself by responding, “There’s no money in writing. It’s not the 40s or whatever.”

So, yeah… There is but there isn’t.

 

Points.

We’re not all J.K. Rowling or Stephen King, two white people who write a lot, influence greatly, and have franchises beyond their bestsellers. I’m talking movies here, people. There are a lot of talented people out there. These people and anyone else who is creating, who isn’t bad, regardless of whether they’re friends or strangers, are competition. That is, in capitalism. Competition, as they say, is fierce. It’s difficult to get published, break into publishing, or really anything in the writing world. It’s all a struggle. A lot of the same scenarios with other art forms too.

 

It used to be that people like me, if their credentials and contacts aren’t good enough to put them into one of those aforementioned jobs but are still decent, we end up in academia. It’s not inherently a bad thing. In fact, it used to be the preferred route. You teach people to write while writing on the side yourself. You never lose that edge. You keep sharpening it, learning what’s good and bad from your students, peers, and any books you need to research. Now, it’s not a livable gig. You get picked up as an adjunct and, if you’re lucky, get the chance to eventually move up the proverbial ladder. Adjuncts dream of being turned into real professors. Real professors dream of tenure. Until they’re professors, many must take on additional work to get by. This ad on of work makes writing difficult. Don’t get me wrong, people can do it. People I know do it. The problem is that it doesn’t appeal to me. I also find the shaping of young minds to be a challenge I’m not sure I’d want to undertake. That’s a lot of pressure, but there’s no telling where things will go.

People.

So, where’s the money? Show me the money!

  1. Managers, agents, and people with established (or pre-established) names. Have them. Get them.

You got that? Know anyone famous who’d be willing and able to help you? Got strings to pull in the industry? Use them if you do/can. They might get you places you never dreamed of before. It’s still a longshot though, but it’s a shot.

  1. Patrons. You heard me.

We’re in the wrong time period for this, but it would be cool if an independently wealthy individual or family was willing to sponsor your arts. Of course, they do this because they expect you to eventually become famous and provide them with more income. Like I said, capitalism.

  1. Newspapers?

Yes, taking it back to the beginning of this piece, I could always try my luck in a newspaper. Those sometimes pay enough that you do not starve to death. I’ve interned for some. I was also on the school paper for part of high school. I’m currently freelancing for an online one that’s connected to my current job. We’re in the future. It’s a hard road though, filled with deadlines, stress, and ink.
I don’t know where the money is. It’s everywhere and it’s nowhere.

 

Where will you be when reality sets in?

You know what? Don’t think too hard about it. There’s not a whole lot of money outside of a good book deal followed by tours and movie adaptations. And you’ll have to be lucky and more than lucky to pull that off. Let’s face it, it’s a battle with low yield. Society needs the arts but isn’t willing to pay for them, not all of them. Escapism isn’t valued the same as it used to be, and the competition is only growing. Demand is down. Supply is high.

This may be a cynical view from a picky jerk who’s all but given up, and you’re somewhat right. Well, you are but you aren’t. I’m still writing. The plan is the plan that a lot of people have had for forever: Work a job unrelated to your interests, write when you can, as much as you can, try to get it published somewhere, read to some people when and where you can, and hope for the best. Maybe there’s a way out of it somewhere out there. I just haven’t found it yet. All I can do is what everyone everywhere does, keep going. Keep going.

 

That, right there, is my only real bit of advice for you here. If you’ve started this, if it’s what drives you, what you really want, then keep going. It’s not that there’s no point in giving up, there is, but I can guarantee that you don’t want to be at the end of your life with the knowledge that you didn’t do that one thing. Besides, people like me are too deep in it to give it up, nor do I want to. Regardless of finances, I’m going to find a way to express myself and work my craft. I hope you feel the same. I know that this has taken a turn but keep going.

 

Yours,

Nathan

It’s November: A Time To Be Grateful Or Novel Writing Or Not Shaving Or Something.

Sometimes the end of the year hits or nears or looms and I’m left without a sense of motivation or anything to do. With that in mind, I wanted to give a few examples of things that can be done in November, and then I wanted to try to tie them into being creative or close to it. This intro reminds me of the old way they used to teach us how to write essays: No surprises. Well, maybe just a few.

THANKSGIVING

It’s definitely Autumn (colloquially Fall in the States). The US is closing in on participating in what is known as Thanksgiving. It’s a day that devolved into a national holiday where we usually eat too much turkey and a number of other somewhat traditional foods to the point where we’re too full and enter a state of rest similar to that of a coma. Not to say that’s a bad thing, I love the food, but there’s supposed to be more to it than that.

Now, let’s forget for a moment that the original meal was thanks to Native Americans in some way helping out people coming from Europe and that those same European immigrants attempted and at times were successful at genocide of the native populations, said the white man writing this blog… The real object of the holiday isn’t intended to be that of gluttony, although it often is, but to think on your blessings and what you’re grateful for at the time.

You may be like, “What does this [American] tradition have to do with being creative?” Good question, me and/or reader if you actually thought of it. I find that, after a while, I lose sight of the good things in my life, and I not only become disappointed but wholly dissatisfied with it. This puts me in a state where I’m not just incapable of creating, which I do become, but I’m not really capable of doing much of anything. For instance, although I might not like my job, it pays and gives me benefits that currently keep me alive, for example. What I’m trying to say here is that it’s good to get perspective on things.

Yes, it’s difficult, if not close to impossible, for most of us to do what we want to do if it’s something artistic, BUT there are plenty of good things going on as well, things you can use to help motivate you. Also, being unhappy puts a strain and often a stop to creativity. I highly advise against it.

NANOWRIMO

Maybe you’re reading this and thinking, “What is that? That’s not a word!” That’s appropriate if you did think that. I once had that same reaction. Also, you’d be correct in thinking that’s technically not a word, but I digress.

Most people don’t know what that is. I know I was unaware of it until around 2009 when I was in undergrad. It stands for National Novel Writing Month. It happens every year on the same month, November. It’s starts on the 1st and ends at 11:59PM on the 30th.

Here’s the premise for the whole month, essentially, people set out to write a whole, full length novel in the course of a month. That’s something I wouldn’t necessarily recommend. The length goal is  50,000 words. The writing process resembles a marathon. You even have to pace yourself. If you don’t meet a word goal of about 1,667 words a day, then it’s important to think about either giving up or giving yourself more time and not participating in this. I’ve known some people to spend the greater part of a year preparing for this event. I’ve seen layouts of plot points, characters, and themes, much like I’ve seen with others who wrote novels in grad school with me over the course of several months. I’ll take a moment to add here that there are other versions of this like NaPoWriMo, but that’s during another month.

Obviously, this is creative. The idea of writing a novel in a month seems preposterous. Yet, at the same time, I think it’s important to challenge yourself in your craft and see what you can do. There’s nothing quite like honing your skills like using them in a difficult way. And, I feel, this goes beyond the advice of simply using your skills to keep them sharp, but also understanding your skills and talent and what you’re capable of as an artist.

Honestly, it’s impressive. I couldn’t do it. When I was in college, I couldn’t because I was already writing a lot. Now, I don’t do it because I’m lazy, have fun things I want to do, and I work full time. But I will say that if you have the time to commit to it and you are successful at keeping up with the word count, then more power to you. I think that’s wonderful and I hope that you are able to keep it up.

If anyone reading this is interested, there’s an official NANOWRIMO site you can go to. They even provide some incentives to help keep people going. I encourage anyone who wants to try it for themselves to do it.

 

NO SHAVE NOVEMBER

Can anyone remember what this one was about? Oh, that’s right, not shaving. I mean, it’s right there in the title. Hard to forget…

I don’t know when this originated, but I do know it was back in high school, many moons ago, I first heard about it. The actual meaning of this is to promote cancer awareness. That may sound strange, but there is some logic behind it. The idea is that you embrace your hair and grow it out because so many cancer patients going through chemo end up losing theirs. In some ways, it’s to keep you grateful for what you have, which is, hopefully, hair and being cancer free. I am in the process of balding, albeit many would argue that I’m already there, and will probably have to shave my head in the near future. I did grow a beard about 2 years ago and never looked back though.

I do want to point out how male/testosterone/facial hair-centric this particular one is, when it doesn’t have to be. If you shave anywhere, during this time, you should just stop. It’s as easy as that to participate. Let the hair grow!

Ok, I’m done.

If you’re able to grow out facial hair or head hair or any kind of hair, I guess, for this one, it’s an excellent time to practice styling. I definitely see this as a creative endeavor. It’s equally a way to test any relevant skills you may have, or a way to find some hidden talent. It’s hair. At the end of the month, if you’ve managed to stick to it that long, then you can get rid of it. For those of you who might have a lot, I would encourage donating to those without. In case you were wondering, I don’t mean me.

There are other variations like Mustache November, but I think it’s important to stick to the ones I can remember immediately and take the least amount of effort. No Shave November also has it’s own site. See, I linked it in the previous sentence so you can go there if you want, but you don’t have to. I mostly wanted to point that out to show I’m not totally neglectful.

 

 

These are just a few things: I don’t want anyone coming to me and telling me there’s nothing to do in November. I also don’t want to hear anyone claim that they can’t find a way for events to have an effect on their creativity. I mean, I just spun a thing where you don’t shave. If you’re having trouble getting your creative juices flowing, then do something that challenges you and/or takes your mind off it. You know, I advise living a bit.

Have a great November!

 

Yours,

Nathan

Writing What You Know

A.K.A. Sticking to Your Guns

How do you do this? How do you write what you want to write?

I often feel myself slumping down into my seat when I think about the material I’m producing and seeing how the world is. Currently, I’m attempting to write about sports. Recent world events make me feel like what I’ve chosen to write about is not important. I want to focus on topics like Toxic Masculinity and masculinity in general, because it’s what I’m familiar with and what effects me, but I feel like I should write an essay about world and/or political affairs. Or maybe something about the US’ current socioeconomic climate and its constant state of harming those whom would be deemed as “lesser.”

The thing is, I CAN still write about them. BUT, I’m not the best person to do so. Yes, the world seems to be in turmoil, but I’m not the most educated on climate science. I don’t have much experience in poor and/or rural communities of the US. I’m a barely lower-middle class, straight, white male who was forced to fit in despite mental illnesses and other natural weirdnesses based on cultural norms etc. It’s not these things I feel guilty about not writing, but it’s what I know.

I was not good at sports, and I hope you weren’t either. Even if you are, you’re still welcome! I’m only saying that because THAT’S what I’m writing about, or trying to anyway. Why that and not something else? Well, I’ll answer that question with another question: Why not?

There are lots of creators out there, a plethora of writers, each with their own style and subjects, most, if not all, of it dependent on their life experiences. I’m not saying you should rely on other writers or creators to get points across, your points across that is, but to assume that they will, at the very least, do better than someone who doesn’t have the same knowledge and/or experience as you. Now, you shouldn’t feel that something like creating a statue as a political statement and placing it in a community where it will get the most impact is something you should assume someone else will do and do it better, but you should be aware if this is what you’re best at and if you’re comfortable doing it.

I will say that stretching beyond your comfort zone is a good part of growing creatively. However, there are limits. You should certainly feel the need to expand your knowledge and skill set, but don’t do what you can’t do.

It’s difficult to accept, at times, especially when you feel inadequate in your work, but it is something everyone will need to get over at some point. It’s good to feel confident in what you’re working on/writing. It’s important to feel like you’re the only one who can write about what you’re writing about in the way that you’re writing about it. This is what’s often called “originality.”

Don’t write what you don’t know.

Sounds simple, but a lot of people try tackling things that they’re solely passionate about without the education necessary. If you really want to write about something, take the time to study and make sure that you’re knowledgeable about the subject. Don’t get me wrong, you need passion, that drive, but passion isn’t everything. I mean, it’s something, but it’s not enough.

On top of that, if someone tells you to stop writing about something, mostly something that they don’t find interesting as opposed to something they find could be harmful, you shouldn’t listen to that person. Now, if what you’re working on is poor in quality or moral fiber, then I would have to side with that person. BUT, if your work is just something they don’t care much about, then stick to your guns, and keep going. They’re not your target audience and you can find that later.

Not giving up, though, is something you need to find. If you can persevere, even things seem most difficult, most dire, then you’ve made it further than most. I will always encourage people to write and/or create. I hope the best for everyone.

 

Yours,

Nathan