Apple-Obsessed Author Fella

Fuck Money? A Little More About Writers And Getting Paid

In today’s post about being a happy writer I put an admittedly provocative header on #16: “Fuck Money.” Now, I like to think the post explains itself okay, but maybe it doesn’t — and further, the graphic that accompanies the blog post is in some cases going around separate from the text of the blog post, so I figure I understand some folks balking at the notion that a writer shouldn’t care about money.

Which, to be clear, is not at all what I’m suggesting

I care about money.

I care about it. I like it. I’d lick it for the coke residue if it didn’t make me look weird.

I care about it both because it feeds my kid and because I can buy stupid shit like video games and good bourbon and because it puts the paint on the walls of our home and — well, dang, I don’t need to tell you that money is how we pay for stuff. And I pay for stuff via my writing. Full-time. My wife was full-time and now works part-time, so the lion’s share of earning is on yours truly. And, to be honest, I make a very comfortable living right now with the inkslinging.

Money is a lovely reward for a day’s writing and I have no intention of dismissing that. In fact, there’s little better than putting food on a table with the imaginary made-up seed-stuff that pours out of my ruptured head-pumpkin on the daily. Now, that being said —

I still think the point of the post still stands, which is, you’re likelier to be happier writing first because you like what you do rather than because you like filling up your piggy bank. And it’s true for things beyond writing: the things we do in this life will make us happier overall if we bring our interest and our passion to the table. Now, hell, if your interest and passion is purely in accumulating dollar signs, so be it. Go forth and dance a happy dance with your pockets jingling and cash floating out of your shirt like it’s a money blizzard. The point wasn’t about being an effective writer, nor was it a suggestion that anybody should be a starving artist or should feel bad for earning out with their creative endeavors —

It was just about cultivating happiness. And in my experience focusing only on money is done to the detriment to your own personal mirth meter. Your mileage, as always, may vary.

Nothing wrong with getting paid or being a writer who wants to be paid.

Hopefully anybody who reads this blog knows that by now, but for you newer readers, there it is.