So I'm pretty sure I'll probably end up waiting tables for a good portion of my twenties and thirties, writing my novels on the side and sending them off to various publishing firms. I am mostly okay with it. I can't see myself in the corporate world much at all, and could never do a cubicle job. My mother told me that she'd be rather upset if all I did after college was live as a starving-artist.

Do you have aspirations in a highly competitive, impractical career area? Is working a shit job with hopes of making it big a waste of your life?  

So do you wait tables until you get published or die...or do you give up and do something that isn't your passion?

Post edited at 2:31 pm on April 6, 2008 by ForeignFishes

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Punk rock died when the first kid said, "Punk's not dead."

i think i want to be a journalist

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dont wonder why im not smiling, wonder why you are.

If writing is your passion, go for it. I think it's amazing and beautiful when people are working in a job that they really love. And you can see it in the rest of their personality as well, it just makes a healthier person. People get depressed, grumpy and unhappy with life when they work jobs they don't like.

I personally don't aspire career wise, I don't see the point to fight fight fight for months for an extra $2-$6 raise only to get booted out for a 20 year old after like 20-30 years of faithful service. It's just not a passion for me and I'm trying to live in a way that allows me to follow my passions.

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Holly.
Mama to Hunter Kai

surely it is better to write for the sake of art itself than for the acclaim?

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The truth is what money can be made from a lie.

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What I find interesting is that getting published is the dream....

surely it is better to write for the sake of art itself than for the acclaim?

 

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My point is that it's incredibly hard to make a living off of writing. I'll write for the sake of writing regardless of what I end up doing in life, but ideally I'd like to get paid for what I love to do.

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Punk rock died when the first kid said, "Punk's not dead."

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Well, I believe that you should try to have a reasonable fall back, just in case you don't make it in your writing career. Try to be a writer but have a back up plan somewhere in the "corporate world". You don't want to be waiting tables all your life. If you get stuck in a job you hate, at least make sure it pays good. They say that money doesn't buy happiness, and I'm a firm believer of that, but; in all practicality, it can help.

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I agree with this, other than the money doesn't buy happiness.
It really does.
However, it doesn't buy you a job you like.
Still try to write novels on the side.
That's what I'm going to do, but I have a passion for more than one thing, so I plan on pursuing as many as I can.
I suggest you do the same.
If you have a passion for something else as well, go for it.
If not, get better pay.

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I'm too sexy for my posts.