Giving up the day job...

[Jamyn]

Just wondering about you guys. Are you all full-time writers ro do you have the requisite 'day job'.

I'm a management consultant.

(No punchlines please, I'm genuinely interested)

[Jamyn]

...a consultant who doesn't use spell check.

'ro' = 'or'

[Meltdown]

I'm a full time process/chemical engineer.

Insert engineering joke here

[TinaRM]

I edit SGML (internet language). Yeah boy - that's what I said I wanted to be when I grow up.


Tina

...and the day begins on a low note of *twink* :)

[Cornell]

I'm a full-time marketeer...and I cook, and write, and clean, and write, and do laundry, and write, and rake leaves, and write, and mow the lawn, and write, and take out the trash, and write, and pay the bills, and write, and paint/draw, and write--writing comes usually after 10PM! Plus, I love my son like there's no tomorrow. He comes before any of that other stuff mentioned.

And, Melt, the Engineering guy...you mentioned once that you were as deep as a tablespoon? Well, I do think you run a lot deeper--maybe a great big ladle? NOT! Just joshing ya....

[Baby Niblet]

R&D Project Manager at a large biotech company. That + a 9 month old son keeps the page count moving like molasses.

[pppc]

I work for an online bill payment service as a research representative. And since I found my rose colored glasses, I just love it!

PPPC

[gdover]

High School Teacher...Social Studies/Economics/World Geography/World History...coach Middle School Baseball...past jobs since I was 16.

newspaper boy
car wash attendant
grocery bag sacker/cashier (the old mechanical cash registers)
ice cream clerk
truck driver for shoney's
shoe salesman/shoe store manager
clothing store manager
pizza hut (lasted one day)
Stint in the Air Force/pumped JP-4
repo man for tv rental company
sold firewood
clerk auto parts store
worked on a dredge boat for Corps of Engineers
signalman for Frisco Railroad
installed water purifiers
sold air purifiers
car salesman new and used
hotel night auditor (lasted 3 days)
assistant manager for KFC
product demonstrator of fake gold at dept stores
insurance salesman
sold rubber mats
manager of a YWCA one summer
newspaper columnist
correctional system adult and juvenile/jailer
drove a tour bus for grayline tour company
youth market manager for Pepsi Cola USA
sold seafood for a group of grifters
worked on a shrimp boat
sold biomedical equipment
sold fume hoods to laboratories
worked as a courier for a Corning labs picking up blood samples.
probably a few more but my fingers are tired....

all is true. I might also add I have been married four times...have three children...go to church...been to the following Universities...Univ. of Memphis, Univ. of Tenn, Eastern New Mexico, Loyola (New Orleans) Univ. of New Orleans, Nicholls State University, Harvard University.
...sorry I got off on a tangent...but my whole life blurred by...I still haven't found my niche.

gdover

[Daughter of Lir]

Heh, well, I am quitting my job at Chapman University -- today is my last day as a matter o' fact. :) But dont get excited, I still gotta work. I'll prolly do temp admin stuff for awhile, unless my dream comes true and I get a job at a publisher house in S.F.... <grin> But yeah, I've been typing on my script every day here at work, so I get the best o' both: working on the script AND a steady paycheck. This is a Good Thing. But even if I *do* get to the point where I am selling scripts and making good money from them, I'd still need at least a part-time job or I'd go out of my gourd. Part of how I write is because I am dealing with the everyday world and job and crap, and from that I get this huge burst of creative catharticism that lets me get the story out... <shrug> Not for everyone, but works for me. :) I reckon that when I'm sitting back watching my stories be made into flicks, I'll work p/t as my sweetie's secretary, helping him get *his* stuff done... ;) Now THAT is a job I can get into, heh

[Nemesis Unbound]

I wish I had a day job! Sadly I am the personification of the starving artist (ok I'm not starving but...) :b

[Greta123]

I write for the internet and do work for hire when I'm not writing specs.

It's taken a long time to get here. Before that I was a Kelly girl, an Addeco girl, a Manpower girl, etc.

You get the point.

G.G.

[Chris]

I was looking for the "selling ice to Eskimos" gig on your resume. You aint been around 'till you've done that.

I've worked hotel night audit, too. You get to see some really, really strange stuff in a hotel in the middle of the night, I'll tell ya.

Chris

[wannabe]

I gave up law to become this famous writer. Figured my package would last about 2 years, so gave myself this to "make it". 6 years later, I think of all the money I could be making as a lawyer, then I trudge off to my part-time job in a bookstore.

Actually, I've finally cracked the local writing market (in South Africa) and am writing for a couple of sitcoms here, so I don't really need the job at the bookstore. But as writing is such an insular vocation, I kinda enjoy getting out the house and going where there are people. Also, the kids I work with are in their (very) early 20's, so it keeps me young (or so I like to think).

[Julian7]

I currently work as the editor of a regional weekly newspaper. In the past I have written and produced videos, and worked as a reporter. If you define yourself by your job, you're only limiting your dreams. Although I would not recommend that a beginning writer leave behind all means of ordinary financial support with expectations of making a lot of money with writing alone, I would always say that if you love to write, you can do no better than to make a practice of it, with hopes (as I have) of one day having the luxury to pursue it with greater and greater success.

[gdover]

I thought about it and remembered when I was at Univ. of Tenn. Me and a fraternity brother would go to the local motels and clean out their ice machines. (we had about 15 Igloo coolers)and sell the ice to other fraternities for parties on friday night) we charged .50 a bag.

We made enough to buy a case of beer and a fifth of crown royal whiskey. (we were broke...most of the time) my parents took away my expense/fun money because of my sordid behavior.

I wrote my Dad.

Dear Dad,

No mon, no fun,

Your son.

My Day wrote back.

Dear Son,

Too bad, too sad,

Your Dad.

[DesireeB]

I would never give up my day job. I get to be outside all day.

During the day I sell oranges at the La Brea on-ramp of the Santa Monica freeway. I meet all kinds of great people as they wait for the traffic monitor light to turn green.

Then, about 3 or 4ish (see, no time card to punch) I rush over to the intersection of Olympic and Bundy, to stand in the median and sell flowers to all those sweet guys who want to bring a posie home to their sweeties. If I'm really hard up for cash I try to hoist a few bags of peanuts on them. This is the life. ;)

[callitt]

I'm Operations Manager for a locksmith company. I am also a locksmith myself. I have a road crew of 90 plus eight service managers reporting to me. In the past I have been:

A news/sports writer/reporter.
A TV Cameraman
An EMT
a credit fraud investigator
A dj
a retail manager (UGH!!)
a martial arts instructor

and numerous other bull@#%$ jobs I won't admit to anymore now that I'm an adult.

[TinaRM]

I think I'll list all the jobs that I got fired from. I must really suck as an employee now that I think about it. (Actually, I've been at the company I work for now for almost 4 years - but I get to work from home...therefore, they never REALLY get to know me...hehehe).

Worked at a Chevy dealership. They hired my best friend from highschool (we were both in highschool at the time). We *worked* in the service department and watched as people got ripped off over car repairs. We got tired of it - so we decided to go half-a$$ on our duties and flirt with the mechanics instead. BOOM! FIRED! (Both of us) OK - so maybe I deserved that one - but I was only 17, I didn't give a crap. Found another job the next day.

Worked at a 5-diamond hotel where I was the Front Office Manager. Anyhoo - a new Gen. Manager came in and took over. He decided to replace the staff that brought the hotel to 5-diamond status with his own staff from LA. One at a time we were fired. I was number 18 out of 24 (even the young supervisors who were barely out of college were fired). Less than a year later the hotel's 5-diamond status was threatened and the gen. mgr was fired (this was right after he cheated on his wife - got kicked out of his house - then got kicked out of living in the hotel...he was on the streets - literally). I almost felt sorry for him and maybe I would have if he had given me a better excuse for firing me than..."Uhm....I just don't want you to work here anymore" <while shuffling papers nervously on his desk>.

Worked as the office manager for a commercial Gen. Contractor. Just so happens that this contractor, Mike, rents his office space in the building my husband owns. Well...obviously that held no weight for me cause he fired me anyhow! YIKES! The reason? A daycare was being added to the office park and my husband was taking bids on having it built. Mike's bid was MAJORLY higher than the others and so he gave the job to someone else. Mike felt I should have had more control over it and gotten him the job. I had no more control over who was given that job than I did over the fact that my husband wouldn't kick his butt out of the building after I got fired....yes, I tried...but he wouldn't do it....wouldn't even raise his rent. OK...so that was mean of me...but dang...what a maroon-head!!! Plus I was TICKED!

Anybody else get fired?

Tina

[Nemesis Unbound]

Darn it Tina, I'm still trying to get hired! :eek

[callitt]

Tina,

getting fired from retail was the best thing that ever happened to me. That industry is full of the most arrogant, uptight, self righteous a-holes imaginable. I took the job I have now as something to get by with, til I got something I wanted. That was eight years ago...

[OLI]

Me? I'm a Corrections Captain, yes I work in a jail, but I'm a boss....
It's a great day job if you like working all the holidays.....