Comments on: Gig economy not new to writers

By: Kevin A. Lewis

Kevin A. Lewis — Thu, 29 Oct 2015 18:24:55 +0000

That makes a difference, Joelle; down here most writers who haven’t made it out of midlist sorta-seller land would be crazy not to hang onto their gig at the perfume counter at Macy’s, or wherever. Cross your fingers, we’ll all be rich literary has-beens yet!

By: Joelle

Joelle — Wed, 28 Oct 2015 21:53:02 +0000

I should add that I live in Canada, so I have health care. When we lived in the US, we mostly worked to pay for that.

By: Kevin A.Lewis

Kevin A.Lewis — Wed, 28 Oct 2015 18:04:59 +0000

I’m too old to go back to being a gypsy (my last Tarot customer turned into a werewolf before my eyes and the thrill just wasn’t there anymore) so I’m clinging to my day job with benefits come hell or high water. There’s just too many irrational variables in the writers game-I was looking much by accident at the Wikipedia listing for my last taxable paying gig and thinking, Wow, how did that ever even happen-I was working on something I thought made market sense and then That just rose up out of left field and away we went. But all through it I stuck to my day gig, and even though that’s changed a few times I’m glad I did. To hell with art; if I don’t get paid, I don’t work, and if God needs volunteers to touch up the Sistine Chapel, I’m sure John Green’s great with a paint brush.

By: Joelle

Joelle — Wed, 28 Oct 2015 01:07:49 +0000

I have never had a “real” job with a steady paycheck and have made my living in the arts for nearly thirty years (with a few boring part time or temp jobs thrown in to help at times); as a writer, arts publicist, and actor. And my husband is a musician and a photographer and he hasn’t had a real job in over thirty years. I think the single most important thing you can do is STAY OUT OF DEBT.