Mercenary Linguimancer seeks Steady Paycheck

October 30, 2006 2:50 PM

I am a writer new to western Washington. I am short on experience but long on skill and drive. In the coming months, I shall complete my English education. But I need work now!

In the years since I chose English as my major and writing as my vocation, I've been made painfully aware of the difficulty one faces in finding a living wage in this field. But I've waited all the tables I can stand. I've endured all the menial labor I can tolerate. I want to put my best skills to work!

I know employers prefer applicants with complete degrees and a couple years of experience. What I have is an incomplete degree and a years' experience writing for a small weekly newspaper. So while my offering isn't ideal, I can sure as hell string a few paragraphs together. Surely I am not the first writer to seek employment with a few gaps in my education.

So how should I proceed? I'm based in the Olympia area, if that makes a difference. I've worked as a newspaper correspondent, as noted above, and also have experience in tutoring and copy-editing. While writing fiction is my long-term goal, I'm open to any occupation concerned with the use of the English language. The counsel of all is most appreciated, the counsel of industry professionals is utterly treasured.

Thank you, AskMe!

posted by EatTheWeak to work & money (4 comments total)

I don't know how much the Daily O hires, I'm afraid. Have you tried the state at all? You might also be able to find some ad agencies or the like.
posted by Captain_Tenille at 3:37 PM on October 30, 2006

Try alumni association newsletter/magazine, and the publicity machines of local colleges and universities. Also see if those places have writing centers where you could tutor.
posted by LobsterMitten at 3:55 PM on October 30, 2006

Try not-for-profit organizations. i was able to get a significant amount of network/IT experience working for a couple different Western Washington 503c's by simply doing the work and then pointing out to the managers that I had saved them hundreds of dollars in consulting fees. I saw interns do the same thing writing press releases and handling other communications duties. As long as you're willing to stand up and say, "Pay me litle and I'll do my regular scut work as well as all this extra stuff," you can build a reasonable resume and make some good contacts.

The problem with writing non-fiction (marketing, manuals, etc.) is that it's a different muscle than writing fiction, and it's hard to do both at the same time. If you spend all day writing press releases, it's hard to sit back down at the word processor and generate fresh prose. A colleague has a bumper sticker which reads "friends don't let friends write non-fiction." He had gotten a gig writing a manual for one of Microsoft's major product releases, and it kept him from writing a word of fiction for a year and a half.

Beyond that: write. Write a lot. Chances are good that nothing in your undergrad program will actually make you a better writer or make you any more employable than someone with a degree in French. Get a blog and make sure you're interesting about something other than wanting to write. Write movie reviews. Post recipes. Describe in detail your cat's plans to take over the world. I have a friend with a book deal because she knit a sweater for a tree.

If you're looking to make a living writing fiction, leave Western Washington for someplace more affordable. Eugene, OR has a vibrant, active writing community, and it's still relatively inexpensive to live. Getting into a workshop with other professionally minded writers can be a big help. Learn the ground rules for submitting fiction and start mailing stories. Seriously; writing fiction is like lottery tickets with shittier payouts and worse odds. I don't expect that to stop you, but it's good to hear it every so often.

In the end, there just aren't a lot of jobs out there for writers which involve regular paychecks and health benefits. Unless you're planning on teaching creative writing, it's the other stuff you do that will make you a more interesting writer.
I became a network engineer as something to put food on the table while I was waiting for my writing career to take off. I found myself making significantly more money than people who's writing careers I would have killed to have. Fortunately, I've chosen to be a failed writer at this stage in my career, and there's a lot less pressure in that.
posted by FYKshun at 5:11 PM on October 30, 2006

To my chagrin, I somehow thought you were in eastern Washington; I was thinking writing jobs would be thin on the ground out there, hence my suggestion. For western WA, the technical writing suggestion is much better! Also there will be more nonprofits needing cheap or free writing help, more professional organizations needing cheap or free copy for their newsletters, a chamber of commerce needing same, more stuff and people generally.
posted by LobsterMitten at 6:08 PM on October 30, 2006