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Well, yes, of course it is. Those of us who write full time know that. But there are people who question it, sometimes to our faces, and I met one the other day. I managed to stay polite throughout our conversation. Just. But it made me think. What if I had to write a job description? What would I say? How would I describe exactly what I do in terms that 'real world' corporate denizens (yes, that's what he was) would understand? So...let's see
Job description: Self-employed Writer
I am allowed to choose my own working hours, and since I have no employees at home, to dress how I like when I am working 'at the office'. (This annoys lots of people, and seems to make them jealous.) Working in pyjamas, or in bed to keep warm (as I often do) is somehow seen as not proper work. Interestingly, my new accountant says that the bedroom is a valid working area for a writer. Bless her. The fact that I often work far longer hours than a person in a regular office seems not to count. But anyone self-employed who works at home can choose their own hours. A writer is no different from, say, a graphic designer or a computer game programmmer in that respect. Or, indeed, an architect, a potter, a sculptor, an artist, a researcher, a freelance anything - and a list of other 'work at homers' as long as your arm. Would you question whether those jobs were 'real'? No. Didn't think so.
Aims of job: Producing a saleable product The problem lies with the fact that the product is not, in the beginning, physical, although in the end, with the help of agent and publisher it will become so. My primary products are ideas and creativity, which eventually result in a book. In the 'real world', almost every product we buy in the shops starts with a creative idea - sometimes big, sometimes small. Without James Dyson's creative and inventive mind, we would have no bagless vacuum cleaner. Without some nameless genius's creative input, we would have no Cadbury's Fruit and Nut Chocolate. You see where I'm going with this? Everything, yes
everything, starts with an idea. Some work, some don't. That's why every writer will have a drawer (or, nowadays, computer folder) full of manuscripts that will never see the light of day.
Let's put those under the 'real world' department called
Research and Development. Some books take years of R & D, especially if there is history or a specialised subject involved. R & D is an investment of time and energy which may not pay off every time, but which still has to be done in the interests of accuracy and veracity. A writer will hope for a contract before they commit to this, but it doesn't always happen nowadays. Not everything I have written in t
"YA Authors Asked to 'Straighten' Gay YA Characters" said the headline in the Guardian on 14th September. I already knew that this story existed from the Twitter
#YesToGayYA hashtag, but reading that a (then unnamed) major literary agency in the US would only represent two well-respected authors "
on the condition that [they] make the gay character straight, or else remove his viewpoint and all references to his sexual orientation" really shocked and horrified me. Malorie Blackman, in the same Guardian article, is quoted as asking the question, "
Are we still not over this nonsense?" Well, aren't we? And if not, then why not? We damned well should be.
Since the original article by
Sherwood Smith and
Rachel Manija Brown in the USA, there has been much debate on the subject in the blogosphere and on the social networks, with all the differing viewpoints and arguments brilliantly summed up
HERE. You may ask why I'm adding my two-penn'orth, when so much has been written already. I am not gay (although I have many friends of both sexes who are), and I have not (so far) written a gay character in any of my books. What qualifies me to comment then? Well, I am a writer. By definition that means I can and do write about things well outside my own experience. The novel I have just finished is YA fantasy, set in present-day London, but in my time I have written about pirates, dragons, fairies, mermaids, bears and a long list of mythical beasts and gods. I also write male teenage characters. I have no actual empirical experience of being any of these things, (although I live with a teenage son, which perhaps allows me to claim a little observational expertise in that area at least!). If, in my next YA book, one or more of my characters tells me they are gay, I will write their story too--and I'd like to be able to do it without a little nagging voice of censorship in the back of my head telling me that I shouldn't, because
'the market won't buy it'.
The truth is that many teens are gay in varying ways--LGBTQ is the umbrella acronym. Many are confused by this and ashamed, hiding their true natures from their peers, their parents (and even themselves). Only this week there was a report on the teenage suicide of Jamey Rodemeyer in the US--bullied for being gay, who was told (and this is only one of many dreadful comments) that one of his peers "
wouldn't care if [he] died. So just do it
What? Abandoning the social networks? Me? For those of you who know me--yes, I hear your scepticism. For those of you who don't--trust me, for me to talk about abandoning Twitter and Facebook is like a chocoholic abandoning all cocoa products. So why would I do it?
Well, in the Twitter world, there is a thing known as #goingdark. This signals that one will not be around for a while--and usually, if a writer uses it, it means that they are going into self-imposed purdah to work on a project, to edit, to think. In short, to do what writers do best--create.
This, of course, is what I'm talking about--not so much abandoning the networks, as being absent from them for a while (come on, did you
really think I would jump ship?). I had a good reason for being absent for a whole month* recently--a YA novel to finish. When I'm in that race to The End, I need a head uncluttered with any distractions. My brain somehow shifts to some strange space off to the left of my eyebrow, and I walk through the world in a daze, entranced by my characters--wanting to talk only to them. It's an intense sort of conversation, and while I love chatting to my Twitter and Facebook friends (some of whom are Real World friends, and some who I know only in the Virtual World), this stage of writing, for me, is a particularly private time, and so I shut myself away with my characters and go dark for as long as it takes.
Now that I've 'finished' and am at the rewriting and fiddling stage of my novel, I'm dipping a toe in the social networking waters again. Have people missed me? Doubtful. Have I missed much? If it's important enough, someone will tell me. One thing I'm glad I didn't miss this week is the publication of
Nicola Morgan's wonderful, witty and eminently useful and sensible guide to using Twitter. It's called
Tweet Right and if any of you were thinking of venturing into that particular corner of the social networking playground, I'd strongly advise reading it before doing so. Now that I AM back, I've signed up to be one of Nicola's Twitter Angels. So if any of you want to come and see what it's all about, I'll be happy to help and advise. You can find me at
@lucycoats. Unless I've gone dark again. In which case, you won't.
* a whole month is a LONG time for one who Tweets and Facebooks much more than she probably should each day.
Lucy's latest series Greek Beasts and Heroe
More than 10,000 views later, I think I can safely say that the first-ever online children’s book festival has been a huge success. The Awfully Big Blog Adventure Online Literary Festival has been tweeted many hundreds of times, been splashed all over Facebook, been commented on, blogged about, and generally feted with praise and raised glasses. All of us who took part—both organisers and bloggers—would like to say thank you to all of you who came, saw, and stayed for some or all of the 20 hour, 40 post duration--and to those of you who are STILL coming back to catch up with everything! It took a lot of hard work (and maybe even a tear or two) to get us here—and so we thought you’d like to know a bit about how it all came to pass....
Back in the bleakness of mid-February 2011, Sam Mills mentioned that she’d seen a feature about an online literary festival in a newspaper, and suggested that The Scattered Authors could hold the first-ever online children's festival on our shared blog. Sam says: “I worried the idea might be rubbish, so I was excited by the positive and enthused response. The festival was on!”
So The Awfully Big Blog Adventure Online Literary Festival was born. It’s quite a mouthful. So we quickly shortened it to ABBAlitfest. Short, sweet, and easy on everyone’s typing fingers. Sam then approached each author-blogger individually about doing something for the festival—even though she knew it would take many times as long as doing a group-mailing.
“Day after day, I shot off email after email. I was so pleased when the first authors I approached, Liz Kessler and Adele Geras, said YES and agreed to do giveaways. Soon I had 12 authors on board and I began to compose a timetable. By the end we had a grand total of 47 authors. All the pieces were of such good quality...I think that made the festival.”
While Sam was working her socks off, wrangling authors and posts into place (much like herding cats, some say), another piece of the festival jigsaw was
Lucy and her leading canine ladies Sika, Hero and Teasel say....
“WANT TO WIN SOME FANTASTIC BOOKS? JUST TELL US WHO YOUR FAVOURITE GOD OR HERO/HEROINE IS IN THE COMMENTS BOX UNDER THIS PIECE and leave your email address/keep checking back for the winner.”.
Orion Children’s Books have generously agreed to donate a big bundle of lovely books to one lucky winner picked at random from all entries. There’s:
· a whole set of 12 Greek Beasts and Heroes by Lucy Coats
· Dead Man’s Cove by Lauren St John
· The Case of the Deadly Desperadoes by Caroline Lawrence
· White Crow by Marcus Sedgwick
· Magus of Stonewylde by Kit Berry
· An Act of Love by Alan Gibbons
· The Midnight Palace by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
Who wouldn’t want to win THOSE?
CLOSING DATE JULY 20TH 2011. GOOD LUCK!
Lucy's website is at http://www.lucycoats.com/
Lucy's blog is at http://www.scribblecitycentral.blogspot.com/ (Shortlisted for the Author Blog Awards 2010)
Lucy’s Facebook Fanpage is at http://tinyurl.com/lucycoatsfacebook
Lucy's Twitter page is at http://www.twitter.com/lucycoats
Thanks for using the time and effort to write something so interesting.
My site:
le credit et rachat credit
I reckon that storytelling must be the second oldest profession.
So we have longevity on our side too!
But you know that "working from home" is never a proper job! (I know I work from home and everyone tells me "you don't work".)Sigh.
Perhaps I should put 'member of the second oldest profession' on the job description, Elen!
Cat - *sigh* indeed. I just wish it was possible to counter this one, and that people didn't see working at home as somehow less valuable than going out to an office. It's more ecologically friendly, for a start. I did ask the gentleman who inspired this piece why he thought as he did. He replied 'well, some women have been very successful setting up businesses from home. But writing, I mean, come on, it's not exactly arduous, is it?' The conversation went rapidly downhill from there, and we didn't part on the most amicable of terms. I was, and still am, very angry.
Well said.
From An Apprentice.
I think the 'working from home isn't a real job' sneer is going to be heard less frequently as fewer people have 'real jobs'. We will be seen as trail-blazers for the new economy. Now, how to make money out of it?
I've had that comment from a few people over the years, and it used to make me very cross. It's only slightly less hard to bear now that I am a published writer! Personally I like to think that those people are just jealous, but I do feel the need for a witty one-liner retort to the accusation of 'that's not a proper job'.
"trail-blazers for the new economy" - I LIKE that one, Keren, and will remember it.
Savita - yes, a really pithy one-liner would be good. I'm like Rabbit in Wind in the Willows, always thinking of something to say an hour after the event. Suggestions, anyone? Maybe we should have a little competition! *thinks*
There are always people who doubt any job. Students frequently ask me if I had to go to college to be a school librarian. No, I just read a lot of books so they let me work here! Sigh.
What does the "gentleman" do for a living, Lucy?
He's a corporate finance bod, John, met by chance, and hopefully never seen again.
In my day job at WP I work from home two days a week and have to constantly field jokes and comments about the fact that I'm not really working, I'm just watching daytime telly. Has anyone watched daytime telly recently? I'd prefer to work! I think Keren is right that the knee jerk sneering will fade slightly as more employers become as forward-thinking as authors already are. People don't need water coolers, office air con or pin boards to do a good job - they just need the chance and the space to do a good job. That space can be the corner of a kitchen, living room or spare bedroom, or - even sometimes in my case - the cafe at my gym!
Corporate finance? Doesn't that mostly involve gambling with other people's money, and eating expensive lunches? Doesn't sound like proper work to me.
Love the way you've listed all the other things a writer has to do, Lucy. I feel quite important now!
Great post. All I'd like to add is: I've never worked so hard when I was at work :)
(I mean 'I never'. Put all grammatical errors down to sheer exhaustion ;) )
Excellent post, Lucy! Cannot think of one line put down, though. Leave that to wittier people!
Well said - good for you!
Of course it's a proper job!
And it's even more complicated once you have retired from official, paid, orthodox 'work.' How to explain - no, this isn't a little hobby to fill in the hours until my mind disintegrates, but the opportunity - at last - to do something I love and maybe earn a crust or two.
What an excellent article, Lucy! Maybe the people who say that being a writer can't *possibly* be a proper job are just jealous - after all, we get to snuggle up in our pyjamas and spend hours making up fantastical characters and worlds and happenings, while they're crammed on a packed train at ridiculous o'clock in the morning, on their way to a day at the office.
…Hmm, I know which 'job' I prefer!
'What a strange question. How do you define 'real job'?' would be my one-liner.
What a great article Lucy. I met a guy once who said working from home, indeed being a writer was a bit of a hobby. I said: Think you can write 60k words to a deadline? He said: Yeah, probably. I said: Can you make those words interesting, characters leap off the page, places come alive. Could you hold the attention of the reader for hours on end. He said: Well, erm, maybe if I tried (He was persistent). I said: You can barely hold my attention for 10 minutes (I was annoyed). He said: @£$% I said: Are you annoyed? He said: Yes. I said: Good, that makes two of us. Have a good day.
Ironically, it's partly because it's so badly paid that people don't consider it a real job. It is, sadly, the case that most people who can afford to spend all day writing have another source of household income. That may be from them doing other work (including school visits) or may be from someone else earning, or from letting rooms in the house, or whatever. But many people still equate real job with real money.
I'm not really smart enough to come up with an apt one-liner. I think this quote from Harlan Ellison puts it best: Writing is the hardest work in the world. I have been a bricklayer and a truck driver, and I tell you – as if you haven't been told a million times already – that writing is harder. Lonelier. And nobler and more enriching.
Wonderful blog, Lucy. Not only do I think it's important for non-writers to read, it's important for me to remember. I'm a published author but those days when I'm not getting much done I feel like I don't have a proper job and get quite down. And I find myself looking at the rubbish collector with great awe thinking, well at least he's got a proper job. So thanks for the reminder.
Oh goodness! What a lot of lovely comments. Thank you all.
Irfan - your story made me laugh a lot - how brilliant. I shall remember it for next time. And I hadn't seen that Harlan Coben quote - thanks for that too.
Stroppy - you make a very good point there. That other source of income (for me, journalism, school visits etc) is vital. I know lots of people don't have that, and then, if they have an other job to live, the writing is then seen as the hobby. I wish we lived in a society where the arts and the people who create them were honoured and respected more.
Nina - your rubbish collector story made me laugh too - in recognition! Sometimes it IS good to have a reminder that writing is a many-stranded thing.
A wonderful post Lucy, echoing all our thoughts I think. The worst of this is that other people's negative perceptions about what we do can hold us back. I know that this was a contributing factor for me describing myself as 'a teacher' (my 'other' job) for so long and neglecting to say that I was a writer too. When a salary isn't guaranteed, despite the hours we put in, somehow it doesn't seem right to declare writing as our job. And as you quite rightly say, we are also quite often responsible for our own finances, marketing, arranging school visits etc... goodness me, we're not writers, we're Superwomen/men!
What a great post! It goes back to that 'I could write a novel if only I had the time'. Makes me want to scream! We all have exactly the same amount of time; I use mine working 60+ hours a week doing (and teaching) something I love for not much money; some people use theirs doing what they call a 'proper' job (and watching x factor or big brother or whatever. I'm so fed up with this idea that writers are somehow self-indulgent. Aarghh!!
Excellent post, Lucy! I get so cross when people assume that my writing is a hobby, because my "real job" used to be teaching. One recent conversation went like this:
"What do you do?"
"I'm a writer."
"Have you had anything published?"
"Yes. Several books."
"Are you rich?"
"No."
"Oh." Disappointment and end of conversation!
I am trying for the one-liner:
No, it's not a real job because it has no terms and conditions of employment, no salary and no pension - just long working hours and no paid holiday.