Working for a Living

It's inevitable when you meet someone new that one of the first questions you'll be asked is, "What do you do for a living?"

I'm willing to bet that many authors who aren't in the same league as James Patterson, Stephen King, or J. K. Rowling will not respond with, "I'm a writer." I know I don't. That's because writing is not how I make my living.

Yet.

Though I've had four books published in my Black Horse Campground mystery series, it's far from being "what I do for a living". I don't make enough money from my writing to make a living. Therefore, I have a full-time job and a part-time job. The full-time job--cake decorator at Walmart--is the job that pays the bills and buys groceries. The part-time job--"vino slinger" a.k.a. bar tender at Noisy Water Winery--goes into savings and pays for emergencies and for some fun stuff. What both jobs have in common is that they allow me to do the third job... writing.

That's the really fun job!

The other thing my "real" jobs (a.k.a. paying jobs) do is help me find material for my writing. Interacting and speaking with people, doing work other than sitting at a laptop, all that feeds my imagination and helps me create characters and stories. Then, after the work day is done and I can sit at my writing desk, those experiences come back and fuel my creativity and the fun job begins! Being able to create characters and tell their stories is how I have fun. It's the job I want to do regardless of what pay (if any) I receive. It's more than a hobby; it's how I want to live my life.

So while writing may not be how I "work for a living", it's how I "work for life"... the life I love to live!

Me and my "agent" enjoying the best of both worlds!