Cha-Ching! No Money in the Till! Quit if You Can, Write if You Must!
It turns out I must. Here’s what it costs me. And what I plan to do about it.
Logically, I should quit writing for Medium.
A Medium article easily takes me five hours of writing, editing, re-editing, photo-hunting, and re-editing again. One month later and those five hours often haven’t earned me enough to buy a loaf of bread.
I’m writing a novel too and that’s turning out to be an expensive venture. Who knew?
I started a French Club to fund my writing expenses. After six months, I made enough to pay for a self-publishing course plus an annual service offering essentials like technical advice, access to agents, and discounts on live events. Meanwhile, the kids love French and are happy to keep coming back.
I put four or five hours of paid work into our French club every week, earn next to nothing, and plow it all into my novel-in-progress. Only because my husband earns ‘enough’.
I know it’s a privilege to be able to think and write that.
We’re grateful to have enough for the moment, especially with friends and family out of work as I write this. But with three children, university fees, and our fifties and sixties around the…
