Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips

When can you quit your day job and write full time?

This question comes from time to time. Actually, it comes more often than I wish it would. People are looking for one answer:

Quit now, write full-time, and you will make loads of money.

I disappoint a lot of people because I never give them that answer.

There was once a really famous, really successful science fiction writer. I forget his name, but not his story. He taught physics at a college and wrote science fiction in the evenings and weekends. He asked this question of himself often. His answer:

When my writing earns me greater than or equal to my teaching salary for two years in a row, I will quit teaching and write full time.

He followed that advice. In a few years he earned as much writing as teaching two years in a row and switched to writing full time. I find that to be excellent advice, and that is the advice that I give.

An oft-stated reply is, “but I hate my job. I will die if I don’t quit and start writing.”

My advice for these folks is, “find a way to cut your living expenses by a large amount – say 90%, at least 75%. Then you will be in a position to quit your job and try writing full time.”

An oft-stated objection to this is, “but I can’t do that.”

My final piece of advice is, “find a rich person who will give you three-years salary so you can live your lifestyle and write.”

The reply is, “but I don’t know anyone who will do that.”

Then we go back to the story of the physics teacher.

Sometimes I veer off to a story of Stephen King who taught English in high school in Maine until he wrote a book that paid several years salary in advance. Once he had years of salary in the bank, he quit teaching and wrote full time.