Why You Shouldn’t Quit The Day Job (or, Why I Quit the Day Job)
By Guest | July 12, 2010 |
Today’s guest post is by Inara Scott. Inara is the author of Delcroix Academy: The Candidates, which will be released August 24, 2010, from Disney-Hyperion. Visit her on the web at www.inarascott.net, friend her on Facebook or follow her on Twitter (@inarascott).
I sold my young adult novel, Delcroix Academy: The Candidates in October 2007. It was, of course, completely unexpected. No one, or at least no one who knows anything about the business, expects to sell a book. There are too many variables, the business is too hard, and too many great books end up in the slush pile. I’d written two previous novels and had garnered well over 100 rejection letters in my search for publication. So when I got The Call I was shocked, delighted, and light-headed enough that my agent worried I was going to pass out.
But my sale was unexpected in a way that I still can’t quite believe. I sold Delcroix Academy in a two-book “good” deal – a deal that squeaked past six figures. After they picked me up off the floor guess what the first thing I thought about was?
Quitting the day job.
Yes, like many writers, I had a day job; a day job that produced income my family relied upon. A day job I’d fantasized about quitting for years. The size of the deal suggested that I could replace that income, for at least a couple of years, so I mentioned the idea to my agent. Oh so delicately, she counseled me not to quit. It was early yet, she said, and a lot that could happen. Quitting the day job was a fine goal, but perhaps we weren’t there quite yet.
But I’d sold in a good deal. What could go wrong?
Here’s the list: the book, already scheduled for two years out, was put off a full year; advance payments arrived months after they were supposed to; perhaps most importantly, selling once doesn’t mean you can sell again. I became captive to Delcroix in an odd way – without numbers from the release, no one would want to buy something new from me, but my release was years in the future. I tried to sell in another genre and couldn’t.
The end result? When the market collapsed in 2008 and people were losing their jobs left and right, I was intensely relieved to still have mine.
And yet on June 30, a full two months before Delcroix hits the shelves, I quit my day job. There’s still no guaranteed income, and I haven’t sold a book since 2007. I understand now even better than when I first sold that this business isn’t for the faint of heart, and anything can happen.
So what is this? This is a leap of faith. I’m committing to my passion and my love of writing, knowing the money could run out and I could be scrambling to find ways to pay the mortgage. But the sense of freedom that has accompanied this decision has been remarkable. For the first time, I feel like I’m following my dream and taking a real risk. I’m throwing myself heart and soul into the launch of Delcroix and when I look back, I’ll know that I did everything I could to make it a success.
So, should you quit the day job? Yes. No. Maybe. Was it the best decision I ever made? Absolutely.
Many thanks to today’s guest.
You can read more WU guest posts by visiting this link.
I semi-quit my job. I went from a full-time consultant working for a firm to a sporadically employed freelance consultant. Why did I do it? For the reason you mentioned, so I know I that I did everything I could…that I gave it my all. Trying to live a life with few regrets is tricky business and sometimes we just have to take leaps.
Reminds me of James Scott Bell’s story of the matador who was asked about his previous job. His reply? He had been a writer, but he quit because it was too uncertain.
Yes, writing isn’t for the faint of heart, and quitting your day job to do it full-time requires quite a bit of nerve. Good luck to you, and congratulations on following your heart.
I quit my day job a year ago with no agent or book deal. Crazy, I know.
I’ve since signed with an agent and have sold a book.
It was all a total leap of faith and one I felt ready for, whether things panned out or not.
I quit my day job a year and a half ago for reasons unrelated to writing. I needed the flexibility to help my elderly parents and their medical needs which required frequent emergent travel out of state. Not very conducive to a regular job.
But sometimes the universe does work in strange ways. Just a few months after I disbanded my physical therapy practice, I got ‘the call’ from my now agent, Nephele Tempest.
While the stresses of caring for ill parents at a distance are not the catalyst I would recommend for anyone, writer or not, at least full time writing allows for the flexibility I need to help care for them.
Well best of luck with your release and career! Courage like that should be rewarded. Whatever happens, you made your decision with your eyes wide open. That’s all any of us can ask.
Waaahhh, haha, how scary. Thank you for sharing this, because you KNOW it’s something we all think and dream about. The company where I work has been *extremely* supportive of me and my writing, but still I itch for the days where I am sitting at home or a cafe and singly focused on my stories (or other writing-related duties).
Sigh.
Anyway, thanks again, and good luck! It sounds like the beginning of a fantastic journey. :)
Hi Rebecca! Good for you for taking that leap. It seems to me that working as a part-time consultant (which I may be doing myself when the money runs out!) is the best possible option. You have *some* control over your hours and when you work, allowing you to focus on both jobs when you need to do that.
I love the idea of living a life with no regrets. I think everything we do make us better writers — how could we have regrets, right?
Richard, thanks for the congratulations, and I love the matador story. I’m definitely going to use that in the future! :-) I think the whole writing process requires heart and nerve. Honesty in the writing requires us to expose our raw selves, submitting our work is an exercise in courage, and God help us if we actually get published and people REVIEW our work.
Yes, the whole career is a bit like stepping out of an airplane, every time we sit down to our computers. Quitting the day job is easy, by comparison!
Wow, Caroline, congratulations!!! I checked your blog and May B. sounds great — I wish you all the success in the world with it. I love hearing stories like yours and knowing that courage is rewarded. I sometime wonder what life would have been like if I had quit years ago…but then I stop and remind myself that everything happens in good time and as it should. It’s that whole “no regrets” philosophy. :-)
Please keep in touch — I’d love to hear more about your work!
Hi LJ — I must say I really empathize with your post. I quit for the writing, but also because I have two little ones at home, and I wanted to have greater flexibility to be with them this year, as my husband recently got a more demanding job. It isn’t nearly as stressful as what you’re going through, but I do understand that life presents all sort of challenges, and writing is one part of a full and demanding life.
Congratulations on signing with Nephele! I have heard that she’s fabulous and I wish you all the luck with submitting. :-)
Jan, thanks so much! It was definitely a difficult decision and I thought long and hard before I made it — but once I did, it seemed like the most natural thing in the world. Now I’m just trying not to check the bank account too often. I got my last paycheck on June 30 and I’m trying not to think about the fact that there isn’t going to be another one any time soon!
Hi Inara! Swinging over from the Romance Bandits Lair to say howdy and WOOT!!! I cannot wait to get my hands on the Delacroix Academy!
I’m so thrilled at your leap of faith. I know it’s scary – but hey, as you and several others said, you just don’t know until you leap and see if you’ve got wings, a parachute or if you plummet like a rock. Snork. I don’t recommend the latter.
I went full-time writing and full-time Mom in the same leap, leaving the corporate exec job. ONe of the hardest, most emotionally roller-coaster-y things I’ve ever done. Also one of the best.
WOOT to you and again, I cannot WAIT!!!
Congratulations, on both the book, and leaving the job behind. :)
No matter which choice you make, it is a gamble, because there are no guarantees as to the outcome. It takes a lot of courage, and faith, to have the life you want, rather than the one everyone else thinks you should have. :)
Thanks for sharing your story — it’s very inspirational.
Hi, Nara!
Congrats on quitting the day job! I know I’m late but we’re both vacation nutters this summer so can’t catch up. Let’s celebrate in Orlando over a pedicure or something. :-)
I think this is such a thought-provoking post, btw. I’m a SAH mom, so we don’t depend on my income but we do depend on my time. My first job is being there for the little ones & I struggle like mad to find a balance between doing my job as a mom & doing justice to my job as a writer. And since selling, that balance has gotten way tougher. Deadlines are no longer self-imposed, & every little bit of childcare I cobble together costs money I’m not earning, you know?
It’s always all about balance, isn’t it? Risk, reward. Sigh. Let me know if you have any answers….
But enjoy your summer of writing!
Someone did a fantastic job on your book’s cover page. Try writing a one paragraph synopsis that will capture the imagination equal to that dream-catcher. My muse is sparked, my mind is spinning and I can’t wait to sit and churn stories like magic through the tips of my fingers. Is there a back story behind the artwork?
“As a man (or woman) thinketh in his heart, so he is.” So says the word of God. You must feel pretty confident and assured that you can pull this off and there is nothing wrong with that.
You’re clearly a writer with a good handle on the craft or you wouldn’t have received such a “good” deal. This would seem to indicate the publisher has confidence in your abilities as a writer as well. Push come to shove, you can begin the search for another day job again if neccessary. In the mean time, enjoy your freedom to write and craft a good story. I’m sure it’ll be a lot of fun.
Hi Jeanne! Thanks for bringing the *snork* to writerunboxed! (Everybody needs more snork in their life!) And hey, thanks for the “plummet like a stone reference” — I really needed that to obsess over. (Am I plummeting now? How about now? It’s been two more weeks, what about now?)
Seriously, though, it’s great to hear about other people who took the plunge and went from corporate life to the writing life. I know it was a good decision. Now I’ll just have to see how long it lasts!
Thanks so much Donna! I don’t generally feel inspirational (I think I’d have to accomplish much more before I call myself that) but I do like the idea that other people can enjoy hearing about my journey and maybe it will inform some of the choices they make.
Really, in the end it’s like I said in the blog: quit the day job? Yes. No. Maybe. It has to be the right time for you and your life. But it was definitely the right decision for me now, albeit a terrifying one!
Hey Suz, I am definitely with you on the mani/pedi and margaritas by the pool. Anyone else headed to the RWA National Conference in Orlando should join us!
I was actually thinking I’d be contacting you for help with the balance thing. I have no idea how to manage the stay at home mom thing with the writing thing. A whole new and complex game. But I do know that you need to honor your writing and give yourself undivided time and attention for it.
(And you should all go read Susan Sey’s contemporary romantic debut Money, Honey — in stores now!)
Hey, Terry — thanks and wow. I’m inspired just reading your response! :-) I must say I had nothing at all to do with the cover art, other than to worship the Powers That Be at Disney-Hyperion for creating it.
Thanks June! My husband and writing buddies have given me that same thoughtful cheer whenever I start to panic about being unemployed. I think there’s a lot of magic in the publication process. There’s good writing, a good story, luck, being on the right desk at the right time, and hitting the market when it wants something particular. So I don’t know that I’ve got anything that thousands of other writers don’t have. But I sure do thank my lucky stars that it all worked out and I get to be on this ride. It’s a doozey! :-)
Inara, congrats again on quitting the day job. It is such a freeing, if scary, experience. I quit mine before I sold, and I second-guessed myself a ton. But I think it was a good time to do it to dedicate myself to the writing.
I backed slowly away from my day job … first by working 80% for a year or two, taking Wednesdays off as my writing day. Then, after selling my fourth or fifth novel, I quit the day job and went to writing full-time. Loved it. But one notices, after a few years, that the uneven income stream is hard on the psyche. Trust me, the money NEVER comes when promised, and there will be years when you make mucho dinero and years when you make nothing — or so close to nothing that it hardly matters. And you will have no health insurance, no pension, no dental insurance, or vision insurance, or … or … or …
I went back to working a day job much the way I left, first by working 20 hours/week (the threshold for receiving health insurance and the rest of it), then 4 days/week (80%), and now I am back to working full time.
And the writing has slowed to a trickle.
Life is all about choices and trade-offs. For now, this is worth it to me. But I know I won’t be able to stand working full-time for long — not at the expense of my writing.
Good for you, Inara! If nothing else, you’ll have lifetime bragging rights for “making it” as a writer during the Great Recession. That’s GOT to be worth something!
Wise words. Revision is not only part of writing, it’s the majority of writing. It took me many years, many manuscripts and many notes from editors to realize this. For the longest time, I thought I was failing as a writer if someone asked me to rewrite something. (Or as Heinlein once famously quipped to Asimov, “Why didn’t you get it right the first time?”) Now I know it’s just part of the process.
For an eye-opening take on this, I heartily recommend Elephant Bucks by Sheldon Bull, a book about writing for TV sitcoms. In TV-land, rewriting is a constant (and mostly last-minute) thing.
Also, not for nothing, that is the scariest spider sculpture I’ve ever seen . . .
(Sorry! That last post was meant for Jordan Rosenfeld’s excellent blog, Make A Scene.)
Congratulations on quitting the day job, Inara!! It was the right decision for you and I’m so proud of you for being brave enough to do it and follow your dream. You know the risks and you’re prepared for them.
I cannot wait to read your debut! I have it on pre-order. Woohoo!
I’m about to make the leap and quit the day job, but only because it doesn’t feel like much of a leap. If I had a day job that was going well, I’d certainly stick with it, but I’m in a field that’s taken a major hit from the economy (interior design) and it’s quite likely that I could make more money working from home as a freelance writer (and freelance designer).
Which will, subsequently, give me more time for unpaid writing. And hopefully one day that unpaid writing will actually pay.
Hi Trish! I’m sure selling 5 books within a year let you know that quitting the day job was a good decision. :-)
I appreciate the support! I hope my decision frees me up to sell as many books as you did.
Diane, I’ve just gotten a few years to taste that stress, and that was with the day job. There were many many times I said, when the money didn’t show up, or I worried about the contract getting cancelled — at least I still have my day job! So I’m not excited about that part of my decision.
But I like your ramping approached to the day job. Both the up and the down make perfect sense. There are times in your life when you’re willing and able to handle the stress of unpredictable income and job security, and then there are times you want to know when you clock in and when you clock out and when the paycheck will be arriving. I hope you do find time to stroke your muse now and again, though, even in the midst of the day job!
Hey Laurence, I never thought about it that way! I’m totally going to start bragging about this! :-)
Hi Stacey! I do hope quitting your day job gives you more time to write and design. It sounds like you’re being pushed to the edge of the cliff, but that doesn’t make it any less of a courageous leap. Good luck to you in the future!
[…] My Own Two Feet: Indie Path Reaffirmed Posted on July 13, 2010 by Kait Nolan There was a post yesterday on Writer Unboxed by Inara Scott about why you shouldn’t quit your day job. She talks about selling for an incredible 2 book six figure deal and that she immediately wanted […]
Day jobs: to quit or not to quit, that is the question. In my case, it’s a no-brainer: I’m a stay-at-home mommy. I can’t quit…but I can’t get fired, either!
Congratulations on taking that leap of faith, Inara. There’s no such thing as a job for life nowadays so if you’re lucky enough to love what you do, embrace it with all your heart while you can.
So much to consider! This is food for thought.
I am, at this very moment, in a “should I/shouldn’t I” dilemma right now. I think your statement “I’ll know that I did everything I could to make it a success,” says it all. It’s kind of like those medical dramas when they continue to try to revive a patient so that they can tell the family they did everything they could. Maybe that’s kind of a morbid analogy. But I think if I go down, if this writing thing ends up being a disaster, I want to know that I did everything I could.
Thanks for writing that.