Roundup: Writers and their Day Jobs

In our Roundups segment, we’re looking back at all the great posts since the blog started in 2009. We explore posts from our archives as well as other top literary magazines and websites, centered on a certain theme to help you jump-start your week.

While writing can sometimes seem like a full-time job, it often doesn’t pay the bills. Enter the day job. For some, this is a job teaching writing, but for others it can range from office work to running hydration stations for runners training for marathons. As Chekhov wrote “Medicine is my lawful wife, and literature is my mistress. When I get fed up with one, I spend the night with the other.”

From Ploughshares

• Leah Falk talks to Ali Shapiro about her MFA Day Job blog, and “alternative careers” for MFA graduates.
• To teach or not to teach? Eric Weinstein considers the question in “Those Who Can, Teach.”
• Jennifer De Leon struggles to find the balance between her teaching job and her writing.
• Parenting can be as time-consuming as a job that requires a suit, and Ian Stansel covers the ups and down.
• If you have a day job, when do you write? Thomas Lee has some tips.
• David S. MacLean ruminates on the value and variety of the jobs he has worked.

From Around the Web

• Famous writers had day jobs too! The Huffington Post collects some here.
• Not convinced? Check out Flavorwire‘s “Strange Day Job of Authors Before They Were Famous.”
• The Millions considers the pros and cons of “Working the Double Shift.”
• If you considering quitting your day job to write, Writer’s Digest has 10 questions you should ask yourself first.
• Are you a writer yet? The Atlantic asks “When Does a Writer Become a Writer?”

Image by the Iowa Digital Library