I’ve been thinking a lot about what writers do to live when their writing isn’t their main source of income (i.e., everyone except speculative fiction writers, a handful of commercial fiction writers, & TC Boyle, Roxane Gay, Michael Chabon, & Jamie Ford—love that dude). As it turns out, the answer is:
Academia
Followed by:
Academia
And don’t forget:
Academia
To be fair, I should probably also add “academia” to this list in case it seems like I’m being reductive.
Everyone wants to be a writer but no one wants to pay writers for their writing, which is the American conundrum par excellence.
It doesn’t matter whether writers are teaching in high school or uni or grad school or at Bread Loaf. Writers—or so it seems—are always teaching somewhere because everyone wants to be a writer but no one wants to pay writers for their writing, which is the American conundrum par excellence. I remember in college reading about Wallace Stevens, who wrote poems in his car between appointments, and thinking, “God, that’s fucking depressing. Couldn’t this dude get a teaching gig?” Which just goes to show how ingrained it is in our brains to assume that the rightful place for writers must be academia, the last resistance to market capitalism. At another point in time, I’ll write a newsletter discussing some of the bennies of writing in academia because there are def some, but today is not that day, dear reader.
I’m gonna talk about how absurdly difficult it is to make the professional transition from academia to literally any other sector. As it turns out, academia is the worst late-night drunken tattoo and no one in the marketplace is gonna let you forget how sloppy, ornate, & ugly your tramp stamp is until you stop bending over for academia or at least switch to high waisted jeans.
I’m sure part of the problem is that companies don’t have any experience hiring academics. They don’t know what to do with us.
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