Day Jobs

“Don’t quit your day job.”

If you’re a writer, I’m sure you’re familiar with that advice. I checked in with several authors who quit or didn’t quit or are thinking about quitting. They share how they balance real life with the life of their imagination.

Karin Gillespie's latest novel is The Pitch Queen, and she has a Substack called "Pitch Your Novel." She shares how dreaming big has paid off…

“For ten years, I taught behavior disordered students at an inner-city high school. The job was rewarding but also extremely challenging. When I got news of my two-book deal with Simon and Schuster, I’d been in the process of filling out the paperwork for my teaching certificate, and I tossed the package in the trash. Looking back, it was a wildly irresponsible move considering I was a single mom. But the universe must appreciate audacity because my risk paid off for me, and for five years my writing income exceeded my teaching income, some years several times over.

But when the recession came and my editor was let go, I got nervous about supporting myself as a writer and decided to get my MFA and teach college composition. I did that for almost ten years while publishing novels with a small publisher. But eventually I got the rights back to my backlist and decided to re-issue them myself. 

The sales exceeded my expectations, so eighteen months ago, I decided to take a break from teaching and go all-in with indie publishing. Earnings are cyclical but with every book, they increase, and I can see myself replacing teaching income by next year at the latest. The audacity is back!”

Georgina Bruce is a housesitter who also purports to be a writer. She begs you to subscribe to her hilarious newsletter here. Here’s her cautionary tale…

“Quitting my day job to pursue my writing a couple of years ago was an absolutely terrible idea. I went from having a reasonably well paid teaching career to being broke and living off whatever scraps of income I could make by selling off my writing skills to the highest bidder. On the other hand, in the last few years before quitting my job I spent most of my free time crying and googling ways to unalive myself without causing too much of a mess for someone else to clean up, so that probably wasn't very good for me either. Nowadays, I love my life. I'm happy. I find joy in the little things. I'm writing all the time. And even though I'm still struggling for money and recognition, it's an adventure. Adventures aren't always comfortable or easy, but I wouldn't swap my insecure, broke, hustling existence for anything (except for large amounts of cash, obviously.) If you want my advice, you definitely shouldn't quit your job without any savings or security. It's a really bad idea. But if the alternative is having your soul crushed in some awful corporate machine, maybe you should do it anyway. You'll probably be okay.”

Beth Lisogorsky is a published author of a book about “The Apprentice,” and writes about TV and Film on Substack at Beth’s TV & Film Recommendations. She completed the first draft of her first romance book, leveraging Substack to post chapters weekly to keep her accountable. Turns out it was a solid strategy. She will be submitting her query letters for an agent to publish her book in the Fall.

“In 2022, I got the job I thought I wanted. It was for a great company and involved a promotion, but after close to 6 months, I was increasingly unfulfilled and that nagging feeling of wanting to do something for myself started to creep back in. I felt very guilty and during this time my supportive husband and I had a lot of difficult conversations. The obstacle was me replaying the narrative that wanting to pursue this other path was inherently bad or selfish.  It’s hard to leave a permanent job, especially when your whole life you aim to be reliable and responsible, derive much of your self-worth from your ability to produce and make money, and not do things to upset or disrupt the status quo, to make a change. But the truth was, I was burned out and unhappy.

I didn’t leave my job with a book deal or a digital marketing consulting job to pay the bills. I did leave with an exit plan in place and a financial security net. I  left with the intention of taking the Summer off, having a sabbatical, and rethinking how I wanted to work and finishing that book I started years ago. In the year plus that I’ve been on my solopreneur journey, I’ve worked consulting jobs, being mindful of hours, so I can make space for my book and my TV and film reviews. In July (this month), I will be done with my first draft. It’s evolved into a romance book about a 30-something Jewish woman contending with grief and the rise up the corporate ladder. I’ve also serialized it here on Substack.”

After a nearly thirty year career as a public defender, Uriel E. Gribetz uses his experiences in the criminal justice system in the trilogy beginning with Taconic Murda, Hunts Point and the last one, A Bronx Bust, published in 2/21 by Moonshine Cove. He shares his perspective on balancing a demanding day job with writing…

“Not devoting myself exclusively to a writing career is something that I think about often.  My writing is my labor of love.  Despite that I haven't devoted myself fully to it.  I was an undergrad English Literature major and took the GREs, and I did well enough to be accepted somewhere. Then I heard that adjunct lecturers make about $14k. I guess went to law school by default.

Being most honest I think the deciding factor in all of this is that writing is a "business of rejection".  It's very tough out there.  I have published a series about a Bronx Homicide detective with traditional Indie publishers.

I choose to work very slowly while I am a Senior Partner in a litigation firm.  I work for a half hour in the morning, sometimes an hour.  Other times I will work at night after dinner.  I make notes at all hours.

It's a tough way to go about it.  I am three quarters through another novel (an espionage novel set in Puerto Rico where I live part time) that I hope to have ready for submission by next year.  The words add up if you stick to it.  Never get discouraged and always remember that you write because you love to and no one should affect that.”

The Sirens of Soleil City by Sarah C. Johns hit bookshelves earlier this summer. A writer and video producer, Sarah shares her plans now that her first book is out in the world…

“I wrote my debut, The Sirens of Soleil City, in about a year, during which time I billed more freelance hours as a video producer than I ever had before. In terms of writing, I had my daily word count and could get there in five-hundred-word chunks in between Zoom calls and production meetings and shoots. It worked, even as I mothered two teenagers with their own needs and drama. I sold the book. Clearly, I had to be busy to successfully write.

But then it came time to write book number two. The formula isn’t working anymore. In addition to writing and working and mothering (and spouse-ing and taking care of an older dog and older parents and an older house), there is also promoting book number one. The hours of my day are stretched too thin now and I decided that something has to give. I’ve started to decline all freelance offers.

Financially, this is definitely a risk. My husband works in tech, so while he has a dependable income now, that might not always be the case. My son is off to college in a year and my daughter is just a couple of years behind him. But professionally, it’s a risk I also can’t afford not to take. I have a good idea for my next book. I have an excellent agent. I have a great relationship with an editor at a Big Five publishing house. With all that in my favor, I need to just jump in and put everything into my writing. If I can shape a character's arc, I should be able to direct my own, too. (And if not, I just rolled up my freelance bridges. I didn't burn them.)”

Daryl Wood Gerber, nationally best-selling and Agatha Award-winning author of the Fairy Garden Mysteries, and more, on her journey to becoming a full-time writer…

“When I first started writing, I was working as an actress and making a living at it, so no, I did not give up my day job. I dug in and learned the craft of screenwriting because I was determined to write a script I could star in . . . or at the very least be cast as the star’s best friend.  Soon after, I was lucky enough to sell a half-hour comedy for TV syndication based on a format that I created. Out of this World turned out to be a darling show, which was enough to encourage me to continue to work on my writing craft. 

Fast forward two years and four screenplays later . . . I won the Telluride Award for best screenplay (I think the category was “by a novice” – don’t quote me on that), but that win didn’t conjure up any interest. Zoom forward one year later, my husband wanted to move across the country to further his career with ESPN.  My acting career was in second gear. I had not yet become a star.  And we had a child. So I said yes. I could write anywhere.

Over the course of the next ten years, while we moved from Florida to North Carolina to Connecticut, I wrote six suspense or thriller novels. Why six? Well, the first one earned lovely reviews from agents, but I continued to hear, “Gee, I like your writing, but I can’t sell this story.”  As the person who won “Most Persevering” in high school, I rarely give up. I took classes. I read primers on writing the next best novel. I attended conferences and seminars. I continued acting . . . on stage . . . which kept me sane.

During that time, my husband’s career was soaring. He traveled a ton, meaning our son needed a full-time mom in Florida and North  Carolina, so my day job was writing or coaching young actors, heading up the PTA for the theater group, and more. 

Fast forward to 2010 and being an empty-nester living in Connecticut . . . I was so frustrated by the repeated comments from agents that I was “so close; but not this book,” that I was ready to hang up my pen and return to teaching or coaching acting. But then my good friend and critique buddy Krista Davis [The Domestic Diva Mysteries] suggested I write a cozy mystery. Destiny intervened. I met an agent at a conference who would be interested in seeing my cozy proposals.  Ten proposals later with rejections of being “so close”, I was clearly ready to quit with a capital Q, until the agent called and asked if I could write a Cheese Shop Mystery. Berkley Prime Crime wanted to hire an author to write it. I said yes. When I landed that three-book contract, I quit my day job of writing yet another “close-but-no-cigar” suspense, won the Agatha Award for the first in the series, and am delighted to say, I’ve been writing professionally ever since.”

Are you a writer with a story about a day job you did or didn’t quit? Share in the comments!

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