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/lit/ - Literature

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8985450 No.8985450 [Reply] [Original]

Hey /lit/

I just turned 26 and decided to quit my full-time job to focus on writing as much as possible. I'm thinking of applying to work part-time (20 horus) as a 2-year researcher for the philosophy department of a college for $15,500 per annum.

Is this a retarded thing to do?

>> No.8985458

>>8985450
Any step away from wage cuckery is a good idea.

>> No.8985474

Expect to struggle, but it's not like you're the only writer that ever struggled. Best of luck.

>> No.8985477

Working a full time job in most places as an adult expect to suffer. If you can live on low funds and sustain a healthy proactive lifestyle following a passion desu its a lot better.

>> No.8985521

You're putting all your eggs in one fragile basket. It's not wise.

If the talent is not there (seems like you're nothing special, no offense) then you will be disappointed.

>> No.8985555

>>8985521
Why does it seem like I'm nothing special? Because I'm 26 and obscure?

Also, I'm not very materialistic and at this point I've accepted that I don't aspire to be the breadwinner of a nuclear family or a career-hungry kind of guy. I accept that I'll be quite poor. Even so, I'll still be able to save like $200 a month if I'm frugal.

>> No.8985560

>>8985555
He's projecting. You've obviously thought your options through, so how can it be retarded?

Asking here is retarded, though.

>> No.8985565

>>8985560
It's just such an unusual step that I would appreciated some second opinions. I have nobody to ask IRL and I am prone to fantasizing about doing pretty self-sabotaging stuff e.g. living out of a car, living in a tent, spending all my savings on a barn in the wilderness and going there to die.

>> No.8985584

A friend of a friend is a bestselling author. She quit her job as a journalist/op-ed writer to write full time. She was skint a lot but ended up getting representation. She writes chick lit which I'm not a fan of but she recently signed a six-figure three book deal. So in some very rare cases it works out.

>> No.8985664

>>8985584
How old was she when her debut was released?

Also which genre(s)?

>> No.8985671

>>8985584
>>8985664
>chick lit

Ignore my second Q, my bad.

>> No.8985697

>>8985450
Are you published? If you have a track record of getting into print, then this seems like a sound idea.

If not, then you just might be in for a lifetime of poverty. Beware the impulses of romantic youth.

And ignore this anon: >>8985458, and any trust-fund kid who thinks money grows on trees. Poverty is a fucking drag.

>> No.8985706

>>8985664

Just checked her bio. It says she decided to start writing at 31 but her first novel wasn't published until 2012, when she was 36.

>> No.8985776

>>8985555
the odd of being special is not on your side. It's like buying lottery, you never know. Even you practice non-stop, the odd is still not on your side. What do you want in life is all that matter? I was in your shoes once. I still write. My stories are much better than they used to be, I'm also more productive than ever before. I don't give up. But I have given up on the idea of making a living with just writing. It's not well-paid. Of course, there are exceptions, but in general it's not well paid. So I work as a software developer, do some freelance job here and there, and working on my 4th novels. The readers you ask, my family. Oh, just that you say. Yes, just that, but soon you'll realize there are more in life than just fame, money and power.

>> No.8985826

>>8985697
>Poverty is a fucking drag.

Spooky

>> No.8985839

>>8985776
He's talking about working as a philosophy researcher, actually producing something intellectually valuable. He's not looking for infantile attention for an obscured memoir like you are.

>> No.8985855

>>8985839
can you please explain what a researcher in a philosophy department does?

>> No.8985865

>>8985697
I have been poor as a kid but honestly working full-time and paying half my wage on rent to live in a slum full of muds isn't ideal either. I'm thinking of pulling a Mitchell Eismen eventually anyway.

>> No.8985887

>>8985855
OP here. I'll just be working as an assistant for a small team who have been awarded funding for a two-year project on a specific topic. It's basically administration work but it requires a philosophy degree.

>> No.8985891

>>8985450

>a part-time philosopher

In what kind of a bizarro land do they actually pay for this shit?

>> No.8985899

>>8985839

Why the fuck do people on here just have to shit on people non-stop? I'm convinced you're all just bitter deep down because you feel that you missed out on something or that the world owes you. I just want to get out of this rut. I wake up and I feel empty. I come here because I feel that maybe I'll find some solace but everyone is just spiteful. Fuck off.

>> No.8985912

>>8985839
>working as a philosophy researcher
>producing something intellectually valuable

Jumping the gun a little there, anon.

>> No.8985932

OP, what was your full-time job? Also, do you have prior publications, and what kind of stuff do you plan to write? Do you have a novel idea planned out?

>> No.8985933
File: 35 KB, 466x420, 1459331345605.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
8985933

>>8985839
>working as a philosophy researcher
>philosophy
>working

>> No.8985941

>>8985899
No one owes you anything pseud, go neck yourself

>> No.8985978

>>8985932
OP here.

My full-time job is an office job 8-5 office job in the centre of a major city.

I wrote a novel in my senior year of college and a small publishing house (which is pretty well known for giving debut writers an early platform for their work) said they'd like to publish it but I eventually asked to withdraw my work.

I have been short-listed for two of the five or so short story contests I've submitted work for.

I'm about to submit two stories for another competition I honestly believe I can / will win.

I have written another novel which was rejected around 25 times by agents and publishers.

I have written many short stories and made several attempts to start various novels though really my work just demands so much of my time and energy that I end the day, return to my tiny rented room in an apartment shared with a 250lb TV addict in the next room who I have to ask to turn down her fucking TV every night, and I am only capable really of editing a few lines or writing something that usually gets deleted on the weekend.

I have zero friends.

I have no girlfriend.

I have no material ambitions beside occupying a small quiet room, high-speed internet, and being able to eat fast food from time to time.

I will live a good live at your expense.

>> No.8985993
File: 87 KB, 432x554, Kierkegaard.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
8985993

I'd do it.
Also, use the "free time" to live healthy. You'll end up better than most.

>> No.8986009

>>8985993
What was Kierke-chan's dayjob?

>> No.8986061

>>8985450
Partly depends on what your full-time job is- eg if it's full-time shelf stacking quitting won't be much of an issue.

Even if it is, though, you should secure the philosophy thing -before- quitting.

>> No.8986115

>>8985978
>I eventually asked to withdraw my work
Por que?

>> No.8986119

>>8986009
He was a rent boy

>> No.8986343

>>8985978
In other words you're unpublished, and have no proven ability to be a professional writer.

Did those short story competitions charge an entry fee, by any chance ... ?

>> No.8986367

>>8986343
The entry fee was $45 foe one and $20 another. But you had a free social media shoutout for submitting.

>> No.8986422

>>8986367
So those "competitions" were really fundraisers for the organisers. Got it.

>> No.8986442

>>8985450
Ayyy I am 23 and quitting my job today. Never quit before, give me some inspiring words, anons.

>> No.8986956

>>8985887
What is your writing like. Do you have a plan for a novel? Whats the general gist?

>> No.8987168

Make way plebs. Life coach coming through.
1) secure the research position.
2) quit job
3) write
4) at end of two years evaluate results
5) if published or happy keep going
6) if not, go back to secretary work or kill yourself

Youre welcome OP. Thatll be $200

>> No.8987876

>>8986009
Independently wealthy. Ideal situation for a writer desu.

>> No.8987924

>>8985450

Nope. As long as your filling your basic needs such as food and shelter and what responsibilities you have, follow your dreams.

You might make it, you might not, at least you tried. Though, I will say, situations can turn as quick as the wind changes such as, I don't know, a close relative dying, so be ready for bumps in the road.

>> No.8989032

>>8987168
This. You dont have to be doomed to the lifestyle you'll end up choosing. You can always stop being a writer if it isnt working out. So, do it to see if you like it.

>> No.8989078

>>8987168
>happy

Nice meme

>> No.8989383

>>8985584
>quit her job as a journalist/op-ed writer
This is the key right here.

>> No.8989467

>>8989383

It was only a regional paper, I was a subeditor there for a few years and I used to proof her stuff, but 'I'm a journalist and column writer' it's still a good way to introduce yourself to a literary agent.

>> No.8989484

>>8985891
This

I'm fucking jelly.

>> No.8989549

>>8985450
Yeah it is, but you are also a retard so it will work out just fine.

>> No.8989552

>>8989467
Literary agents are the scum of the earth. They are the estate agents of the literary world.

>> No.8989578
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8989578

>>8985891

>> No.8989659

>>8989552

You won't see me disagreeing but I've no idea how else to get published save for self-publishing. It's that or the agent slush pile.

>> No.8990325

>>8987876
And pretty much obligatory these days.

No wonder contemporary literature is such trivial bourgeois shit.