Second, and this is great, although stressful, I just found out we are expecting our third child. My girlfriend (we live together) is already having health-related issues due to this (less than 2 months into it) and will probably not be able to work through the full 9 months. This will result in some serious financial issues for us.

Sorry to unload like this but it's far better than exploding at her or one of our kids or coworkers. I like to play it close to the chest, usually, but this is more than I am used to handling.

So, are there any inspirational things anyone can say, or different ways of looking at things or maybe even any job leads out there? Anything would be better than what I've got. And my dad always told me when I was looking for a job to ask everyone I know if they know of any potential opportunities... So here we go. Again, sorry to vent, I hope I am not offending anyone by posting this somewhat off-topic message (but I do want a job related to writing!).

Brinestone:

I do like to to write fiction. That is my preferred creative outlet. However, I worked at the local community college as a writing tutor/ESL instructor while I was taking classes there. It became economically unfeasible for me to continue with that after I started working on my BA. A large part of those positions was editing, and I felt extremely capable and thoroughly enjoyed my work.

I have co-written an honest-to-god technical manual for 'good manufacturing processes' in a food production plant. I can do technical writing. In fact, I have been told that I have a knack for writing technically complex ideas in such a way as to be understandable by people lacking technical knowledge.

Third, I have co-written a roleplaying game book, which is fairly technical in its own right. My part in this was far less significant than in the previous example.

While working on my BA, I wrote a series of unpublished concert reviews, as well as a ton of research papers both on basic context and literary theory. So I have limited experience in journalism and fairly extensive experience in research writing.

It's a really tough scene out there for guys who want to make their living with words. Yet, it can be done. Monte Cook seems to have done well enough making his living as an extremely productive writer of role-playing books, for example.

I wonder, though, if there are that many published writers who have been able to make enough money as writers to quit their day jobs. OSC talks about it as if it is a relatively rare thing. A few writers get lucky, like Tom Clancy, but if Red October hadn't hit at the right time, he'd still be an insurance broker who writes on the side.

I'm of two minds on the subject. I hate what I've been doing for the last twenty years, so I've recently begun pursuing a music degree. I'll be in my mid-forties by the time I get the All Important Masters Degree, but my thinking is that I'd much prefer to spend the second half of my life engaged in what I love. Still, I could meet a woman who obliges me to change my priorities drastically (and happily). I can tell you that if I had a family of my own, nothing less than a signed note of approval from God Himself would see me make this drastic mid-life change.

The reason for that is my dad. He married my mom when he was thirty. He was a working musician with a double-bachelors and was pursuing a masters in composing, right up until he got married and decided that he preferred the idea of providing for his family rather than scratching an artistic itch at the expense of the kind of financial security he could otherwise provide. He stayed in the Aerospace industry his entire working life, doing music as a vocation, and, speaking as a son and brother to four other siblings, I'm glad he made that choice. It was a hell of sacrifice for him, at least at first. But he produced so much of what he wanted on his own instead of what he would have HAD to write in the entertainment industry that it actually turned out to be a good pay-off.

Here's the thing about employing your art for a paycheck: Unless you become one of the lucky ones, most of what you do won't give you any more artistic/emotional satisfaction than digging a ditch. That's what I fear about the future I plan for myself, but if I can work in a few things I really want to do, I can live with the drudgery of the rest of my gigs. It's a gamble, though. I may not get to ANYthing I really want to do, feeling lucky just to get ditch-digging gigs.

Bottom line analysis: If you and your family are willing to risk living in penury for what may be a long while, I'd say you're probably safe making the change.

I really am no different than most others, am I.

I think I might be able to sleep better tonight.

Seriously, you're going to be fine, I think. For all my pg-rated verse, I'm actually quite old fashioned. Put family first, and you'll find real joy in your art. Possibly you'll even produce novels people will absolutely love to read, and it's very nice to know that nobody ever HAD to quit their day job to do that.

Man, I was kid #3, and by the time I arrived they'd been through the entire playbook and had to play it by ear.

To everyone else: Thanks for listening to me gripe. It's not normal for me but sometimes it just needs to come out.

As a side note, I just noticed and find it odd that I think of all my writing as speaking, and all my readers (there aren't many - yet) as listeners. For example, in these messages, I refer to the act of reading and thinking about what I wrote as listening, the logical result of regarding the written/typed word as having been spoken. How might this affect the writing of a novel? Has anyone considered this?