The One Advice Famous Authors Always Give Aspiring Writers

It goes against every writer’s instincts

You’re awake again. It’s 3am and you’re wondering why you can’t make it as a writer. You’re not talented enough, lucky enough, motivated enough. You question your entire existence and purpose. Maybe you don’t have what it takes. You accuse yourself of being a talentless hack and try to shut your brain up.

You wake up at 6am to go to your proper job, a place that actually pays you for all your hard work, hating every minute. You curse the job. If only you could quit, you’d be able to focus all your time on writing and making it big. But you can’t. You don’t have the guts to risk it all so you endure your boss, the rude customers, and check your bank account — at least your paycheque came through.

You wish you could just quit.

We all have an image of what it means to be a successful writer or entrepreneur. Someone who’s willing to go all in. This person risked it all, gave up a cushy job, health benefits, and a 401K. This person willingly gave up their safety net to pursue their passions. They spent all their money, broke, sleeping on a friend’s couch, and after a few years, they finally made it big.

That’s the dream, isn’t it?

Not quite, but it makes for an inspirational story.

I used to have a dream of quitting my job so I could spend my days writing. I don’t have that dream anymore. For one, I don’t hate my job — I don’t love it, but I like it. Second, I love making money too much.

I’ve been working since I was 17, my first job in a candy shop. I’ve always had an affinity to write, but I gave the dream up when I majored in accounting over English. It wasn’t until recent years that I fell back into writing.

I’ve been torn between my childhood dream and adult obligations since.

This seems to be the case for most writers and creatives. The workplace is killing your dreams of making it big, but you need to eat and pay bills.

The myth that many aspiring writers believe is that they either have to give up their dream or give up their job, that it can only be one or the other. But that’s not true, and the one piece of advice I hear a lot from successful authors and writers is: Don’t quit your day job.

“The best decision I made as a young writer was to have a day job that relieved the economic burden of writing.” — Malcolm Gladwell

Having a steady paycheque you can rely on is one of the greatest gifts a person can have, even if you hate your job. Creativity is a lot easier if you don’t have to worry about money, making rent, or your next meal. You need to first take care of your needs before you can take care of anything else, and that includes pursuing your dreams.

A day job eases one of the biggest, if not the biggest, stressors in life — financial. You need money. You need money to eat, to keep the roof over your head, and to keep you warm at night. You need money to support our families.

It sucks, but that’s reality.

Gladwell says that he knew early on that making (real) money and becoming an established writer may never overlap. That’s a sobering thought, but $100 a month will not cut it when you have rent to pay and a mouth(s) to feed.

Your livelihood and your existence should not wholly depend on your writing success.

That’s a lot of pressure to put on yourself and your work.

With my day job, I don’t need to worry about my finances. I know I have my needs covered and with that comes freedom when I write. I can write purely for the joy of writing, no strings attached. I don’t need to chase virality or the next paying project. I can write because I want to write. Gladwell says he could choose opportunities that would advance his career because he kept a day job. Those opportunities weren’t always paying, but he could go after them because he knew he could pay rent.

You can’t live out your dream if you can barely survive. A job gets rid of the one obstacle aspiring writers face — the fear of surviving.

“There’s no dishonor in having a job. What is dishonorable is scaring away your creativity by demanding that it pay for your entire existence.” — Elizabeth Gilbert in Big Magic

“A day job is the greatest gift you can give yourself as a writer” — Roxane Gay

I constantly hear stories of writers who quit their jobs and claim that it was the best decision they ever made. I don’t doubt that. There’s freedom in knowing you can pursue your dream full time without having to answer to “the man”. I envy those people but like Roxane Gay says, keeping a day job as I pursue writing is one of the greatest gifts I’ve given myself.

I’ve gotten to know people who would otherwise be strangers to me, developed leadership and business skills, I’m able to manage both my time and my finances. Having a job made me appreciate and realize that people are really generous with their time when you need help and my day jobs have provided me with great mentors.

Having a day job also makes me appreciate writing so much more.

I don’t have the luxury of full days to write. Some days, I don’t even have the luxury of having an hour to write (although that’s not entirely due to my job). So when I can write, I’m deliriously grateful for the silence and creativity that encapsulates me during those times.

I still have a goal of writing and publishing every day, but I don’t see writing as an obligation. I see it as a gift, and that’s because I have another job.

Not all writers spend their days writing

As much as I hear stories of writers quitting their day jobs to write full time, I hear stories of writers and entrepreneurs who kept their day jobs until they were certain of success, some even keeping their jobs despite their success.

Toni Morrison, a Nobel prize winner and the esteemed author, was a professor at Princeton until her death in 2019.

Harper Lee, author of To Kill A Mockingbird, worked as an airline ticketing agent during the day while writing articles and short stories in her spare time.

Caitriona Lally who won the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature 2018 for her debut novel “Eggshells” works as a cleaner to support herself and her daughter.

There are countless examples of famous authors who worked day jobs while writing at night. Even as you scour the articles on Medium, there are writers here who have day jobs. Writers who make a full time living from writing on Medium are far and few.

While I would love to earn a decent income from writing, I don’t want to write for the money.

There’s no shame in working a day job while you write at night and on the weekends. It doesn’t mean you’ve failed or are failing as a writer. There’s no dishonour in taking the risk out of writing.

As another Monday approaches, I’m going to be grateful I have a job (especially nowadays) and be hopeful when I write. As Roxane Gay says, “The job is not in the way unless you allow it to be.”