>>7837194
You'll just end up becoming Stephen King.

your life will suck regardless. just do what you love. if what you love is money then keep your job

>>7837195
>you'll just end up becoming a very successful writer

keep your day job. being a professional writer is shit.

>>7837195
lolno

On the one hand, the "common sense" of the majority who think you should work the better paying job simply because Careers Are Important (They Just Are!!) needs to be qualified by saying you can do whatever the fuck you want, and you have one life to do it with. I know a middle-aged lawyer who quit his 500k~/yr job to go work on Cesna engines for five figures.

On the other hand, even if you're "good," what sells isn't necessarily what's good. The publishing industry most likely will snub you even if you are the next great genius in favor of some pissant YA crap.

Does it really have to be one of those two extremes?

Your choice but people who talk like this are never successful and are always shallow goons. SHALL I MAKE THE GRAND LEAP TO THE STRUGGLE HUT, FELLOW PATRICIANS.
I mean it's not like quitting your job is going to give you anything better to say. What does "dedicate" yourself even mean? Having more time to google publishers while on masturbation breaks? Doing knowledge work so you can put hamfisted anti-pleb references in your shitty writing? Just go to fucking work

>>7837201
My life does suck, yes. I know it's pathetic but the strongest reasons I haven't quit already is that I have a crush on a girl who works in the same building as I do. I was planning to ask her out recently but I feel like I was "shot down", despite feeling convinced, in a mostly non-autistic sense, that she has previously expressed interest in dating me. Should I give up this job and move away I will be essentially living as a shit-tier male, undesirable by most women, and pitied or dismissed as a valid human being by most men. I have a great deal of energy, enthusiasm and so on (I previously wrote a novel which was accepted but I withdrew it from consideration, then wrote another which was bad) but I'm starting to accept that this isn't going to last forever and that one day I'll be the stereotypical 35 year old guy who thinks "What the fuck have I allowed to happen to my life?". On the other hand I feel it's possible that should I quit I will allow whatever lingering psychological issues I have to "break" me and leave me in some mental hospital or monastery or some shit. I don't want to exhaust myself in some shitty job in a shitty field with colleagues I don't relate to etc, but I don't want to mistake ambition for laziness or a desire to return to a more childlike state of living.

>>7837202
But do you want to do that? If you are just going to be putting out books to sell in order to make money then how are you any better that some guy who's working at a desk job?
Maybe the hours are better, you might make a lot of money. These are reason to become a Stephen King type writer. One of the reasons is not to be a great writer.
If you want to create a masterpiece of literature then you probably wont be able to make a living off it. That's assuming you can. That's the best possibility, the worst is that you spend your life working on a piece that turns out to be just mediocre.

If you really do have a masterpiece in you, OP, then find someone who can support you while you write it. How confident are you?

Holy shit.

The last thing a guy like you needs is to quit his job.

You think you're shit now but if you stop working you're going to go on a downward spiral big time.

>>7837219
>Doing knowledge work so you can put hamfisted anti-pleb references in your shitty writing?
What a sneering perspective on autodidacticism. There's nothing shallow about desiring more time with which to better your craft. 'Just going to work' is far more superficial.

>>7837208
I don't know about extremes, it's just after college I wrote a YA-style novel which was accepted by the first place I sent it to, but I withdrew it. I read it over last night and it was actually pretty funny, although I'm glad I didn't go through with it as I want to properly represent myself and not waste people's time. So I know I can write something publishable, even if I just imitate some shit to appeal to market trends. But I also feel confident that I can write something that meets the standards I set myself, and which would be the kind of thing /lit/ would appreciate or at least not hate completely.

>>7837219
It means not being tired as hell after I work from 8:30am to 5:30pm under bright lights in a small busy office at the centre of a large city which requires I commute 30 minutes either way and barely afford rent in a shitty apartment with retards stomping back and forth all fucking night in the apartment above. I've done a lot of research into the lifestyles of well-known writers when they were writing their first books and almost all of them had either part-time jobs or no jobs at all. The ones who had full-time jobs (Faulkner comes to mind) generally had jobs that allowed them to write while working undisturbed.

>>7837194
Be like Lovecraft and move to a small town where you can really buckle down and focus on your racism.

>>7837249
kek

>>7837237

Wrong.

>>7837245

If you are "researching" famous authors' biographies to figure out what you should do then it's even worse than I thought.

Seriously just go to work.
And ask out that girl too. She'll either say yes or no, if she says no she'll probably be friendly about it, and then you won't have to second guess that part of your life anymore.

>>7837261
>wrong
Please provide an argument baby.

>>7837231
OP here. I didn't post the Stephen King thing or reply to it.

Practically speaking I have already written a novel which was accepted for publication, but which I withdrew out of shame and autism. I then wrote another which had some real great lines but which overall (I wrote this while working in my current job) suffered from a lack of consistent tone and general sluggishness and melancholy. I have also written short stories, the only ones I've submitted have made the shortlists (but not won) several prizes.

I'm just posting the above for some context, not to brag (and not that there's much to brag about). But I am confident that the idea I have for a novel is interesting and that I can articulate myself and write in a way which is entertaining, emotionally engaging, and so on. Maybe I'm wrong but I don't know. I just feel this strong need to dedicate myself to something I care about, because socially and career-wise I just don't excel in any way (not trying to sound deep&edgy) and I'm tired of spending my days in work longing to be writing or at least working with an eye to leaving rather than counting down the minutes. Lately I've been sublimating my desire to write fiction and my frustrations about being unable to seriously by pretending to be writing a memoir on /lit/, but now the joke is old and I really do think I would be a happier person should I have spent the past two years writing an unpublishable six-part memoir than living the stereotypical life of a guy who regrets his lack of assertiveness in respect to his "creative" ambitions.

>>7837270
A lot of authors get better because they're wage slaving and know that every second counts. If you literally have all the time in the world you're going to squander it, and by your post, I think you already know that.

do you live alone? u should find the time man no need for quit your job

>>7837261
Why is it bad to research? I do so to get some idea of what others in my position have done, which is practical. Mishima for example (>implying I'm implying I'm as good as writer as he is) quit his office job after a year to focus on writing partly because he was influenced by the lives of French writers he had researched who had advocated working part-time to dedicate oneself to writing.


Also I can't ask the girl out. I barely see her any more and she is from an upper class background. I guess I should have "made a move" sooner but last year I was considering quitting my job and had an interview elsewhere and (proceeds to post more excuses to justify his lack of balls). Anyway it's been like six months now (yikes) since we first really noticed each other and she started showing signs (or what my autistic brain acknowledged as signs) that she was interested in me. Since then I've fully established myself as an unpleasant, humorless autist and the last time I passed her in an intimate setting (the day I planned to ask her out, and had been waiting for a chance to to do so) I got B L A N K E D hard and since then well I barely see her since she appears to spend most of her time working away from the office for whatever reason. Imagine a girl who just ticks every box you have for a potential mate and who is one of the few girls you have felt attracted to in a really meaningful way in like a long time and imagine being such a beta cuck that you act indifferent towards her for so long that she gets bored and moves on and leaves you regretting another chance spurned because of whatever psychological hangover you're experiencing from your youth. If I see her again soon (I see her like once a week now, and not even in a setting whereby talking to her would be normal) I plan on saying "hey, nice seeing you" which will at least communicate clearly and frankly to her prep-schooled self that I, lowly serf who has watched way too many coming-of-age movies, can at least rest assured that she knows I like her or that I appreciate her existence in particular.

>>7837194
most writers can't support themselves by writing alone (except full time technical writers etc). a single part time job probably won't be enough if you have bills to pay unless it's the sort of job that gets €£$hundreds per day. even successful writers do other jobs like teaching, journalism etc.

but then if you are young enough to recover from a financial disaster, you have no dependants and you fancy the starving artist lifestyle, sure, go for it.

>>7837286
I don't mind wage-slaving but when you sit there knowing you have another seven hours to go then all your enthusiasm just drains away. I guess most guys have some desire to "make it" in some creative sense, and IMO those who go all out and dedicate themselves to it tend to place a great deal of pressure on themselves to escape the obscurity and patheticness of their existence (in terms of how they are perceived by others) by creating something great. Again I have previously written what was a pretty funny if rather cringeworthy at times novel while NEET, and dozens of writers I have carefully researched (during work hours) also lived a similar NEET lifestyle or one that guaranteed their mental energies were primarily focused on their work. I welcome you to name these authors who write great work while also working full-time, but I doubt they exist.

>work jobs where you will have interesting experiences which you can then write about

what do I win

>>7837303

Ok in other words this is a joke thread. Carry on.

>>7837304
I realize the first point, which is why I'm so hesitant. Not to mention I won't be writing (as I have previously) with an aim to satisfy the disposition of a female middle-aged editor / agent. I will be writing something that may come across as Elliot Rodger-tier in tone and so on. What I mean by that, not to sound like I'm insane, is that Confederacy of Dunces was accepted at first by a major publisher, but a few years later when Toole's mother tried publishing it again she failed to find a single person willing to consider it, despite appealing to tiny obscure publishers in small towns. She eventually found an independent publisher which hadn't even published a single book so far, but then meeting Walker Percy led to a university press to publish it. While that may seem irrelevant to my own life, I understand that writing something which trusts the reader to be open-minded and willing to accommodate a style of writing and character who may be unpleasant or "weird" is likely not to be something that is considered marketable. Considering the present climate, as you point out, I understand that it's likely that I will either be overlooked or make zero money from royalties. But then I tell myself if the writing industry really is sinking am I dedicated to writing enough to test my theory (i.e. that it is a sinking ship and that writing is becoming increasingly marginalized and dismiss) and risk going down with the ship?

>>7837319
This is not a joke thread. I can only trust that you believe me.

>>7837315
>I welcome you to name these authors who write great work while also working full-time, but I doubt they exist.

dude countless authors have written at least their first books while in full time work. haven't you read those little bios in the end papers of books where writers list all the crappy jobs they have done?
for example (without wanting to start arguments about his /lit/ness) terry pratchett had his first couple of books published while he was working as a press officer for a nuclear power company.

>>7837337
>I won't be writing (as I have previously) with an aim to satisfy the disposition of a female middle-aged editor / agent. I will be writing something that may come across as Elliot Rodger-tier in tone and so on

ok good luck with that. you are starting to sound like a dick and this thread is starting sound like b8
almost certainly your only hope is self-publishing

>>7837344
Doesn't take thought to make fantasy tripe.

>>7837344
I'm not doubting many authors have worked full-time while writing, I'm just saying few good books have been written that way. David Guterson comes to mind (teacher) and Philip Pullman etc. And yes authors have had a ton of shitty jobs, but that doesn't mean they were working them while writing. I mean people praise Bukowski for being this guy who worked his ass off while writing, but his first book was only written because a guy went to his house and offered to pay him money to quit his job and write for a while.

>>7837194
If you can survive with part time, I'd do it regardless of writing. Thing is if you want to build a career or have a kid someday, you kinda need to save and build up.

I wish our society wasn't insane and you could live well with only 20 hours of work. What we got today is just madness.

>>7837380
In your analysis of working vs notworking you seem to be studiously avoiding the undoubtedly significant amount of would-be authors who stopped working and then still didn't write anything worth a fuck. Or maybe the thought just didn't occur to you because it wasn't spoon-fed to you on wikipedia.

>>7837356
That was perhaps poorly phrased. What I mean is that my writing does not reflect the kind of writing that New York publishers (who are typically middle-aged middle-class females) are currently publishing. That's not to say I'm setting myself up to fail by claiming the publishing industry won't appreciate my genius etc. I'm not writing something safe and stylish and in vogue. I am not baiting however, although whether or not I'm a dick is up to others to decide I guess.

>>7837395
But then how would the already wealthy increase their mountains of pennies?

>>7837399
Nope not at all. Again it's one of the reasons I didn't see all these authors who quit their jobs or avoided full-time wok and made it and went on quit myself. I can name names of obscure authors who labored for years in "shit-tier" jobs and who are still in those jobs now. I have read some of their books even. I won't name them because I don't want to shit on their lives but their examples are one of the reasons I have for not risking my shit. I'm trying to be as practical as I can. Also most of my research came from sources outside of wikipedia.

>>7837395
No girl of any value would respect or date a guy who works part-time after the age of like 23.

>>7837380
>people praise Bukowski for being this guy who worked his ass off while writing, but his first book was only written because a guy went to his house and offered to pay him money

two important things
(1) that was the 60s. things were very different then
(2) bukowski was already a published writer

i'm a full time writer. i know other writers, including novelists etc. not one of them has sprung fully formed into publishing their first novel without having other work published first, or having either a full time job or (in one or two cases) a supportive partner.

read this:
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/jul/08/authors-incomes-collapse-alcs-survey
i know one of the writers named in the article and they do several other things to supplement their income.

>>7837439
I accept that authors wages have decreased substantially, both here in the US and in Europe. What does the writer you know do to supplement their income?

Also I assume most of the writers on that list are middle-aged and have family commitments etc that mean they have to be making a lot of money to support their lifestyle

>>7837222
take it from a lazy adult living in a childlike state: quit your job

>>7837252
A simple life writing thinly veiled stories of racism, what more could a man ask for?

>wagecuck with no energy
>part-time wagecuck with less money but more time to pursue his """""dream""""""
do the second one

>>7837432
What a hollow perspective.

>>7837303
You really sound like me, except I'm 18, and have never worked a job.
(Odd jobs on and off starting at 14 and some volunteering, though)

And instead of a novel I'm trying to write an album.
And here I am thinking things are going to get better.

Don't quit your job. Get a different job, maybe. Work is good. You can't let it overwhelm you. Take pride in your work. Don't go so far to one extreme, you don't have to be the tragic writer. Keep writing as a hobby, there's no shame in that. Everyone has a hobby. And just patiently work on your piece. I know it takes discipline to commit to it after coming home from work, but you make time. Treat it as though it's a second job. Keep your goal in mind and work towards it everyday. On your commute, half an hour a day. Motion is good, it helps knock things loose. Don't waste your time on making excuses, just write.

I've still got a long way to go myself, but there's my two cents.

>>7837445
>What does the writer you know do to supplement their income?

writing-related freelance work. lecturing, editing, journalism, reviewing stuff for the press/radio, a bit of other writing for theatre, etc. it's not always a steady income. you have make hay while the sun shines, etc.

your other assumption is incorrect.

>>7837477
>I'm 18

Fuck off.

>>7837482
Yeah, I had that coming.

>>7837494
Maybe you should have hacked the planet. Did you ever think of that?

>>7837407
Sad world we live in. But tyrants have been beheaded and dethroned all through human history. We just suck and remembering to keep them out.