Thanks for putting my life-long dream as a writer into perspective.
Peace...
- Dan (OmegaOdd)
At 06:30 PM 2/22/01 -0500, you wrote:
>
>Figure it out: A page is about 250 words (8.5x11, double spaced). Figure if
>you're including the time spent typing, thinking creatively, editing and
>proofreading carefully, etc, you can do about a page an hour of quality
>work. At $.02 per word, that's $5 per hour.
>
>Last I checked, McDonald's paid $5.75 an hour to flip hamburgers.
>
>
>But back to writing. At $5 per hour, 40 hours per week, 50 weeks per year,
>that's $10,000 a year. Which is well below poverty level.
>
>To get up to $20,000 a year, you need to either work twice as much, twice as
>fast, or for twice as much money. Work twice as much and you get burned out,
>work twice as fast and you turn into a hack, work for twice as much money
>and you need to tell all of us where you're working so we can get jobs there
>too.
>
>This is exactly why 90% of writers in the United States work a full-time job
>to support their writing income. It does not pay well.
>
>Hence, my original comment. We don't do this for money. We do it because we
>love to write.
>
>
>
>
>>No...but I might be willing to do it for a small fraction of what I'd
>>earn if I spent the same time as a freelance programmer...or as a burger
>>flipper at McDonalds, for that matter. :)
>>
>>If I could be sure of making 20->25K a year writing, I would give up my
>>current job to do it, though it would mean a critical lifestyle crunch.
>>(The spousal unit approves.) Anyone need a (published professionally,
>>and not just in R&R, though I'm quite proud of that in itself) writer?
>>
>
>_______________________________________________________________
> All your base are belong to us.
> You are on the way to destruction.
>_______________________________________________________________
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>
>
