Thread by @Capehartican

I will never stop retweeting this

https://twitter.com/badaude/status/1126103404554653696

I do not call myself a professional writer because the payment I get for my writing averages to less than a cent a day. I HAVE to have another job (50-55 hrs a week including commute). I'm also an activist. I'm also mentally ill and, at this moment, unmedicated. Thread.

I'm lucky if I can put down 500 words a week beyond what I get paid for. The fact that I want to write so badly but don't have the time or energy to do so also negatively affects my ability to write; blah blah negative feedback loop.

People who want to write-- ESPECIALLY those who have no interest in journalism-- are NOT told this in school. They're also not told that their portfolio has to be unnecessarily diverse/robust to get a good job, aka one that might come CLOSE to covering all their bills/debt.

I applied for a staff writer job at Whole Foods fresh out of school. They wanted me to have had X number of published articles on X number of topics, only half of which had any relevance to WF. They also wanted either 3 years of journalism exp. or "relevant degrees".

I thought my degree was pretty damn relevant, but it turns out that meant a master's. They just couldn't say that.

Trade secret: when they say "staff writer" they mean a monkey that can work a keyboard and type out copy that other people give to them in raw form.

I didn't need any journalism experience to do that, or a fucking master's. Or to have published 4 articles on my community's view of local businesses and how they helped contribute to sustainability (in hindsight this part is fucking hysterical).

I ended up taking a job at WF anyway because I was a broke college grad. I was a baker. That gave me an in to another baking job which I loved. I loved it, but it wasn't writing. All the other writing jobs I applied to for the next few years until I fucking GAVE UP were similar.

I've considered going back to school for a master's, but everyone I've talked to who continued their education in that vein has said, in one form or another, that if you're not going to do journalism, don't delude yourself that you can live on your writing alone.

I've adjusted to that shitty, shitty reality. I've rediscovered love for the craft, and I have a ridiculously good support network. But the fact that this entire career path is pretty much set up to kill itself off is... stupidity beyond even by ability to comprehend.

I can't get jobs writing because I can't market myself as a writer because I don't have the body of work that most jobs ask for because I had to prioritize my survival over my craft when I was younger.

A couple folks have suggested that I just start writing articles and pieces on "relevant topics" and get published that way.

That's like telling an artist I can't pay for their commission but I'm popular on IG so they'll get lots of ~*exposure*~. Been there, done that. No.

This thread is too long already. Age limits on writing jobs vis a vis work requirements are only a symptom of the systemic problem that we just do fucking not value writing as a craft, as a livelihood, as a duty, as a necessary part of our society anymore.

Okay so I've got More To Say. To the folks that say "Make a Patreon/Ko-Fi!": what part of "I'm lucky if I slap down 500 words a week" do you not understand? Writers are also at an automatic disadvantage with those kinds of platforms because what we produce isn't visual art.

It would take more of my time to market/promote any platform like that than I would spend creating content to put there. You can't put stories on T-shirts, either.

To the folks that say "So make more time to write." I can't work less than 40 hours. I can't change how long my commute takes. I'm not about to stop caring for my feral cat colonies and if you think I'm going to quit my activist work NOW, you really don't know me well.

I also do actually want to keep what little of a social life I manage to claw together. Introvert that I am, I do need to spend time with my partner and my friends to stay sane. I admit that I have done this to myself. I made these decisions and set these priorities.

But I also know that I was working with a limited number of choices from the jump and did the best with what I had. Some people have less than me. Some have more. We all do the best we can with what we have, and for some that means stunning writing careers...

...or fanwriters with massive audiences for their work. Do I wish I could be them? No. I wish I had their careers, their money, and their readership, but I don't know what their lives are like. What their resources and choices are.

And that's why I'm so tired of this entire bullshit system. If writers-- if creators in general-- were valued and compensated for their skill, their dedication to their craft, and the quality of their work, the world would be a much richer place, in all senses of the word.

But instead, it's not the writer that determines their own value. It's the resources the writer has, who they know, how lucky they are, and how canny they are at working/gaming the system that determines their worth for them. That is, point blank, cruel and unjust.

@threadreaderapp unroll please