Committment
For many years, I’ve flirted with the idea of writing full time. The first was in 1996, when I had just graduated from law school. My then boyfriend, now husband thought I should give it a go. I considered it a full five months until I got that first loan bill. I just couldn’t envision how we would pay off $180,000 in debt on his $36,000 a year government salary. So I went to work, temping for Kelly Services, then lawyering for free or very little money, as it turned out.
The second time I tried it was in 2001. We’d just moved to California and I’d quit my $32,000 a year job at LexisNexis. The debt still loomed, however, and after finishing about half of my first novel, I temped at several law firms.
After more employer mistreatment, this time to the tune of $60,000 a year and a computerized punch clock system that recorded my every phone call, lunch, and bathroom break, I’m trying it again. This time the loans are paid off and we only have to support our fairly modest (by California standards) lifestyle.
I’m not going back to the law unless I’m dragged kicking and screaming – and I don’t exactly see that happening. But writing all day is hard. It’s just you and that blank screen and that blinking cursor having to come up with new! and original! ideas told in an intriguing! manner what will grab a reader.
In retrospect the little money I made over the course of my career did not amount to much. I don’t know if I believe the adage, ‘do what you love and the money will follow,’ but I’m at least going to try the ‘do what you love’ part.
