Bread + butter = steak

Most of my freelance friends focus on writing articles, blog posts, and books. I have far fewer freelance allies juggling creative pursuits with corporate bread-and-butter work, like I do. So it was refreshing to see the roster for the online course I’m teaching this month through the Editorial Freelancers Association. Many of the students are commercial writers and editors, too.

When I first ventured out into the workforce back in the Ice Age, I didn’t aspire to finesse marketing copy about computer software for a living. But I did aspire to be self-sufficient and leave room in my schedule to write feature stories, essays, and whatever other lower-paying prose my idealistic little heart desired. And my bread-and-butter commercial writing/editing work allows me to do both without much financial worry. Fact of the matter is, it’s infinitely harder to write a halfway decent humor essay when all you can think about is how you’re going to pay the rent tomorrow.

If you’re curious about the world of commercial writing (the bread-and-butter work that allows you to order steak once in a while, or donate a T-bone to a less-fortunate writer), check out the Well-Fed Writer, a website and book of the same name by author Peter Bowerman. The site is loaded with articles, e-books, and other nifty resources. You can also read an interview with Bowerman here, on The Renegade Writer blog. Maybe then you, too, will never again use the words “starving” and “writer” side by side in a sentence.

3 comments November 30th, 2006