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Rosie Cullen's avatar

You are so right, Sarah - there are so many pressures to be other than a writer just to make any kind of living, from blogging and podcasts to endless promotional work, never mind also probably having a 'day job' to keep the wolf from the door. The reality is that it is incredibly hard for even a moderately successful writer to make a decent living and even then it is usually supplemented with teaching or 'talks' and workshops. Your creativity as a writer can get lost in all of this and the lack of support can sap away at your motivation. Finding the balance is very hard. I count myself fortunate to have found a job teaching scriptwriting which at least let me feel that I was connected to the writing community, but full on mentoring of others creativity left little room/head space for my own writing. Finally, now I have downsized, paid off the mortgage and been able to afford to give up teaching to live on a shoestring but find the precious time to write. After years of knocking on doors I have a deal with a publisher for a series of novels - I know I will make very little income (when ebooks are selling for 99p!) but at least I am writing. Looking around at fellow authors with the same publisher it is amazing how many of us are 'retired' and pensioners, at last free from the day job to write full time. It saddens me that there is so little financial support around for writers (especially mid-career 30-60yrs) and to have any quality of life we are forced to make so many sacrifices, it is easy to lose heart at times. I hope that you do have at least the emotional support around you to keep writing and to have your work valued - I know that being a part of writing groups has been essential to my own well being and survival as a writer.

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Juliet Wilson's avatar

That makes so much sense. I've just recently joined Substack and haven't turned on 'Paid' (and if / when I do (which is likely as people have pledged) I won't be putting up a paywall). I am currently posting once a week every week as I'm finding it a good way of making myself write and keeping to deadlines. In the future, that may not feel like such a valuable element of being here so I may change my approach

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