HudsonWeb.Net Official site of freelance author Brian P. Hudson

What Would It Take To Do This Full Time?

I often catch myself dreaming of the day I can quit my day job and become a writer.

It would be an awesome day. To be able to commit full time to writing, to be able to live off of the money I make … ah! A dream come true.  I know that it wouldn’t all be flowers and roses. I would require a writing schedule, and discipline, and the small business chops to manage my own finances. But I can do all that, and learn what I can’t. The upside would be an audience, and control over my own destiny, and the fulfillment of something I’ve wanted since the fourth grade.

I don’t know that it will ever come, especially since I can go whole weeks where the distractions of work and home life and work that has to be brought home just get in the way of any creative zest.  Last night, for example, I had made a committment to myself to do some writing after work. I knew that my 5 y.o. would be at the door, asking me to play, and I could handle that; but after play, I was going to get some momentum on my novel going into the weekend.

Only, when I got home, that all went out the window. A drain in the basement had backed up under assault from heavy downpour, and the result was that half the basement had flooded. So I did *not* get to write last night; instead I spent several hours mopping up standing water, throwing out waterlogged boxes and papers, and wiping down everything else.  By the time I was done, it was nearly 10pm and all I wanted to do was lay on the couch and sleep.

This is so typical of my life. Everytime I want to write, I can’t; and then, when I have time to write, I don’t want to–on Sunday mornings, for example, when the wife and kids go off to church and market, leaving me with a few blessed hours alone.  But by then, my mind is so far from writing in a given week that I usually succumb to the temptation of Warcraft or Wii or Netflix for an hour or two before heading out to mow the lawn.  By the time I’m done they’re home again, and distractions begin anew.

And money? Hah! Right now I do content writng for Demand Studios, so a lot of the free time I have to write, I will write assignments there. They pay anywhere from $5-$15 a pop, and I can usually crank out a complete assignment in 20 minutes, so it’s quick, dirty money that at least keeps me writing.  But I’m lucky to make $75 a week because, again, I get so little time to do it–enough to buy myself something fun once in a while, or take the family out for pizza, or shop for something “under the radar” (my wife does our finances, which makes it really hard to gift shop).  I *might* clear a thousand or two this year, tops.

Still, it’s nice to dream. It’s a goal. And to get there, I actually have to get this novel done …

Okay, self, GET TO WORK!