Hi there. What do you think of the new banner? You’ll notice some changes in this and upcoming newsletters. I’m trying some things out and seeing how well they work or don’t work.
And please do let me know if there’s something you particularly like (or don’t like). One of the benefits of a small audience is that I can listen to all of you.
I said I’d say more this week about my no longer working at the Weekly Volcano and I do my best to not be a liar. So here’s the story.
I wrote an article about police reform that was rejected for being ‘offensive to both Democrats and Republicans’. Of course, if you’re writing honestly about just about any topic, those on the extreme right and left will take offense because facts are not their friends. And I didn’t pick the topic of the article. So it seemed disingenuous to me to then get all indignant when the controversial topic produces a controversial article. But hey, it’s not my paper. I may disagree with their choice, but it remains their choice.
This alone might have made me quit. I don’t like working at places that don’t like my work. Call me crazy.
But in addition to this, there was the problem of pay. While I was working on the police reform article we were informed that the previous article pay rate of $200 was now going to be $100. I’d gotten a 50% pay cut in the middle of a job. On top of that, it was mid-December and I hadn’t been paid for an article I wrote back in October.
I eventually did get paid, but only after I made a public post on Facebook about the fact that I hadn’t been paid in over sixty days.
None of this would have mattered all that much, except that these days writing is how I make my living. That $200 from the October article would have gone to Christmas presents if I’d gotten it at a reasonable time. As it was, the money had to go to paying late fees for bills and other necessary expenses. I didn’t really have a Christmas, but in a big way I’ve only myself to blame.
I asked a fellow writer if he’d been paid for his work at the Volcano and he said he wasn’t sure. This was because his primary job along with his wife’s job pays for his life. The money he does or doesn’t get from writing is just extra.
These got me thinking.
What I’m Thinking About - Writing As An Avocation
In 2019, after spending over 20 years working office jobs and raising children, I made the decision to focus on my writing. I’d been writing creatively since grade school, but it was always something on the back burner. I felt it was time to make it my priority and so I did.
I was accepted to Goddard College’s Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing program. I met incredible people who were massively talented and who became fast friends. I contributed to literary journals. I volunteered to edit Goddard’s literary journal. I spent two and a half years working on a novel manuscript based on a local true story I’ve been fascinated with half my life. I had articles printed in newspapers and magazines. I released a serialized novel. I continued to write about every homicide that occurred in my hometown of Tacoma. I helped relaunch a local newspaper. And I’ve made friends that are among the closest people in my life now.
During this time my adult son was stabbed, I had double bypass surgery, and there was a global pandemic. To say that the last few years have been eventful is an understatement.
I did all of this while at no time having a full-time job of any sort. I’d love to say it was all part of a plan that resulted in my making a living as a writer in 2024, but that’d be a lie. The truth was that student loans were not covering my expenses. I had a job lined up to start in early 2020, but the pandemic killed that too.
How did I survive? By minimizing expenses. It’s not pretty. I’ve lost friends simply because I couldn’t afford to hang out with them. I also lost friends who didn’t say so, but clearly disapproved of my not working a ‘real job’ because it’s kind of obvious I’m not making a living with my writing.
As much as I might want to and attempt to make my writing my vocation it remains an avocation. And that, I think, is how the vast majority of writers should see their creative work. It’s not how you make a living. It’s how you express your life.
As 2023 was coming to an end, I was satisfied with my writing. I had succeeded in writing about a Tacoma homicide every week of 2023. I had launched a serial crime novel in this very newsletter which some of you subscribed to. I had half a dozen articles published in print and online. And I was a regular writer for the Weekly Volcano.
It’s too bad that all of that amounts to about $2,000.
The secret of making a living as a writer in 2024 is that most of us simply can’t. Articles rarely pay what they’re worth. As mentioned earlier, getting payment at all can be a problem. Over 98% of all new books sell less than 2,000 copies and most writers get something like $4 a copy if they’re very, very lucky. Publishers are less likely than ever to give a big advance or go out of their way to support and up and coming writer. You’re expected to run your own PR firm of marketing. Oh, and there’s 100,000 others just like you trying to find places to put their writing in front of eyeballs and maybe make a buck or two for the privilege.
So what’s a better approach that leads to better creative work? These are my thoughts about producing creative writing going forward.
Abandon hope of being a writer of international, national, or possibly even local renown. Redefine what being a writer is because it’s no longer spending all day at the desk writing with a glass of whiskey while your editor or agent keeps the publishers satisfied while the genius works. It’s much more, finding time to sit at the kitchen table and write a newsletter while you’re cooking a cheap dinner.
The last few years of my life I’ve been poorer than I’ve ever been. I have three bank accounts that all have less than one fifty dollars in them, three dollar bills in my wallet, and a Growler jug one-third full of coins. I drive a fourteen-year-old car that has a window that won’t roll up. I haven’t been to a concert in the 2020s. I have no retirement plan to speak of.
From a ‘how much money do you make and how big is your house?’ perspective, it’d be easy to look at that and think, “Wow. What a loser.”
But also as I write this, I’m preparing to publish my first novel later this year (the hard copy of A Better Lie). I’m writing the second serialized novel (Bad Pennies) that is coming out later this year. I’m starting my 18th year writing about Tacoma homicides at TacomaStories.Substack.Com. I’m working on a series of connected short stories. And I’m shopping a few articles around to magazines and newspapers. From a writing standpoint, I really like where I’m at, regardless of how ‘successful’ others might not see me as.
There’s an argument to be made that I simply need to ‘grind’ more. Get those subscription numbers up. But spending time trying to figure out what niche might be successful or gimmicks to drum up more subscribers or any number of other things that you can find fourteen YouTube videos recommending you do if you’re serious about writing ignores the fact that while you’re doing all that, you aren’t writing. I could spend my time running around in circles trying to find the latest trick to more subscribers, but I’d rather spend that time writing because I’m a writer.
In my creative writing in 2024 I intend to focus more on output than outcome. A lot of writers start January with goals that they have little to no control over. Getting an agent, getting a publishing contract, getting enough subscribers, are all things that require other people and thus aren’t actually personal goals. My goal for 2024? To borrow a phrase from Neil Gaiman, “Make Good Art.”
Writing for the vast, vast majority of really good writers simply doesn’t pay a living wage. And so I’ll also be looking for paying work that may have little to do with writing. My experience in technical writing and teaching may mean jobs in those areas.
While I’ll be continuing the pursuit of my writing, I have no expectations of it being my primary source of income. The pandemic is over. It’s been six months since my double-bypass. It’s time to start making money again. And for a writer in 2024, that means writing while also doing something else that actually pays money.
What I’m Clicking On
A sane and sober look at the conflict in Israel with Douglas Murray.
Why we should colonize the Saturn moon TITAN instead of Mars.
Oh look. Your digital media you paid for is gone. (AKA why physical media is better)
It seems Elon Musk is using ChatGPT for an army of blue-check marked bots on X.
Nikki Haley gets caught in an obvious lie and thinks you’re too stupid to notice.
One Last Thing
In a world that has never had more social media posts, newsletters, podcasts, television shows, and movies, I want to thank you for spending a little time with me and A Shot of Jack. I really do appreciate those of you who’ve found me and stick around.
Next week I’ll tell you about the 1500s murder mystery video game I briefly became obsessed with (among other things).
I have big plans for 2024 for the free subscribers and the paid subscribers. I hope you’ll join me. Thanks again.
- Jack Cameron
Free issues of Shot of Jack come out Wednesdays for all subscribers. Installments of the serial crime novel A Better Lie come out Fridays for our paid subscribers. To become a subscriber (free or paid) just click the button below.
Good luck Jack, both in finding a suitable day job, and with increasing your output of writing. I know that I have enjoyed your writing in many forms, not all of them, but that's ok. Keep on keeping on and we will see what comes of it. I will be here (and on Facebook) to see what I can see.
You speak truth!
Would you consider posting your volcano article here? If it pisses off the extreme right and left it is one of those rare gems 💎 that seeks truth in a world of PR