I was sitting at the counter, in the Standard hotel's 24 hour diner, a few nights ago, eating a pizza. A guy sitting next to me was drinking a coffee with a baileys. While I was waiting, and he was getting drunk, we did what most people would do in that situation: we started a conversation.
"So what do you do?"
"What do you do?"
His answer: I am unemployed. My answer: I am a writer. And so on, and so forth.
Reflecting upon that conversation, I realized, being unemployed is never something a writer can be. There is always something to write about. That's part of the beauty and also can be part of the problem. The pressure. The pressure knowing that there always is "something" to write about.
There's always something to create i.e to write about but we don't always feel capable of doing it.
A sort of double indemnity is when you are a freelance/full-time writer. You don't do it anymore for "fun" you do it because you have to. But wait..........we chose to become writers, didn't we? And surely, being able to hone your craft full-time is the ultimate perk? The ideal situation every involuntary hack, with a day-job, salivates over?
Well, yes and no. The "yes" bit because it sounds super cool and entails a dream come true. Which leaves us with the "no" bit: writing isn't special anymore. You have to shift your views, change the rationale about the craft of writing.
Anyone who sits down and starts to write.....something, a book, a screenplay, whatever, thinks: hey, this is easy. This is great. And happily and easily pumps out, dunno, 50k+ words over a relatively short period of time.
Occasionally, life gets in the way i.e. you have to work, earn money, pay the bills, deal with family, relationships, whatever.
Eventually, you start thinking about actually publishing your book. You start researching: the whole agent, publisher, perfect query letter thing. You start chopping your way through all the sites and heaps of information on "how to but don't do this" stuff. It's terrifying. And while you're "connecting" with people you think you should connect with, you've still got this sort of, but not quite, finished book.
One of two scenarios may occur:
1. Now, if you have a good digestive tract, you may be able to sit down quite calmly, and resume writing with the same bravado and innocence as prior to the intelligence offensive implementation. And implement all your newly gained knowledge on character development, plot development, formatting, etc.
2. You freak out completely, stop working on your book under the pretext it has to "gestate" while taking on short-term semi-instant gratification projects such as articles, short stories and essays. During this period of production, you continue to gather information and tell yourself: one day soon, I'll put it all to good use when I finish my almost finished book.
I'm sure there are a plethora of variations on the scenarios, the message clear: it's not that easy to write, to be a writer. Finding the balance of inspired creativity with the daily grind of getting the "job" done. Learning to view the writing process with respect but not too much respect. That writing can be a job that earns you money and, simultaneously, a calling. That you can write on demand yet still invoke the writing "genie" needed to finish your book, your screenplays, your whatever it is you wish to write.
(ok: I'm talking myself into this, because honestly, I don't know. I am making things up as I go along and am hoping for the best, conjuring up the odd inspirational quote like: if you stop, you don't have anything" type of thing)
Bottom line: there's no such thing as an unemployed writer. Under-paid maybe, but not unemployed. Keep writing. And order a cheeseburger. And some chocolate cake for dessert.