When People Ask Me What I Do For A Living, I Tell Them I'm A Teacher
When people ask me what I do for a living, I tell them I'm a teacher.
And it's pretty much true. I do spend about the same amount of time teaching as I do writing (well, that's only been true for the last couple of years--there was a five year long writing drought due to a computer game romance I'd rather not talk about). However, teaching pays more bills.
I'm neither ashamed nor proud. Writing is more of a hobby. The fact is, writing is more of a hobby for the vast majority of writers. The average book might sell five to ten thousand copies. Even if a writer earns 10% gross off those sales, that's still about twenty grand per book at the most (before taxes).
Since this is true, I thought it'd be interesting to discuss the most writing-hobbyist friendly occupations out there. I'll start with a few obvious ones:
1. Professor at a four-year university. Three classes Fall, two classes Spring. Unless you're chasing tenure or you're a committee fanatic, this is a writer friendly job by design--when you're not teaching, you're supposed to be publishing.
2. Firefighter. Two to three days a week sleeping over at the station. Three to four days a week at home, left to your own devices. Seeing crazy stuff is a bonus as well. This is my "if had it to do all over" job.
3. King crab fisherman like those guys on The Deadliest Catch. According to my Cracker Jack research (Google-ing and crossing my fingers), these guys work maybe four months tops. Sure it's dangerous, back-breaking work, and the industry has slowed. However, even though it might not be human friendly, it's still writer friendly.
4. Being rich as hell. The ultimate dream job.
That's about all I got. I'd like to hear other suggestions.
