A Way of Life‘

Today the Bureau of Labor Sta­tis­tics informed me that, 

“U.S. Writ­ers 2020 Medi­an Pay is $67,120 per year. 

Typ­i­cal Entry-Lev­el Edu­ca­tion: Bach­e­lor’s degree. 

Work Expe­ri­ence in a Relat­ed Occu­pa­tion: None. 

On-the-job Train­ing: Long-term on-the-job training.” 

I was curi­ous about this because it is (as I write this) Octo­ber 1. It is the day my twice-year­ly roy­al­ties are paid out by pub­lish­ers. The oth­er date is April 1. Which is to say I get my book roy­al­ty income twice a year. Let it also be said I have no idea how much mon­ey will be com­ing in. Ever. 

This pay­out is a com­plex account­ing process, cov­er­ing the pri­or peri­od of six months, that is, from Jan­u­ary to June 2021. You will note that was the height of the Covid pan­dem­ic. And of course, sales, no more than peo­ple, are not immune to pandemics. 

In the month (or so) lead­ing up to this date my wife and I engage in end­less spec­u­la­tion about my like­ly income. Which is to say, what will we live on?  She is great at sta­tis­tics and past data extrap­o­la­tion. I am great at pes­simism. But all in all, it is tru­ly speculation. 

No won­der that this is also about this time of the year that I always recall what Samuel John­son said: “No man but a block­head ever wrote except for money.” 

Let me has­ten to say I do not con­sid­er myself a block­head. And I can attest to the fact that it took many years of writ­ing before I earned any income from my writ­ing. I was also being con­stant­ly told I would not earn any money. 

So, while I can­not argue with the Bureau of Labor’s sta­tis­tics, I can argue with “Work Expe­ri­ence in a Relat­ed Occu­pa­tion: None.” That’s to say the “work expe­ri­ence in a relat­ed occu­pa­tion” is, in fact, any­thing that will keep you going. And writ­ing. Which I guess explains, “Long-term on-the-job training.” 

I’ve come to believe that pro­fes­sion­al writ­ing is not just an occu­pa­tion, it is a way of life. It may not fill your pock­ets, but it will fill your mind. Your time. And your worries. 

It also does some­thing which appears con­tra­dic­to­ry.  When, as a young man,  I first start­ed to write, I was full of con­fi­dence. Of course, then, I tru­ly believed I was more than capa­ble of good writ­ing. Now much, much old­er, I have far less con­fi­dence. Even as I have recent­ly start­ed a new book I am plagued by how—so far—poorly it reads. 

Yes, I love that I earn my liv­ing by writ­ing. But writ­ing is the liv­ing, where­as the income only pro­vides the time to prac­tice it.