Thread: Story v full time work v BA degree

I am currently a 3rd year student with one year left, so have on top of all other work a 10,000 essay to write too.
I adore writing, I have just started a novel after 5 letters non fiction published in a magazine I am starting to believe in my writing.
However I am worried about if this year I will have enough time to write as I believe with right amount of time and luck I could eventually make money from this, so I wouldnt have to worry about sourcing money anyway else, but at the mo, money is needed.
But after all this work, I then have to get a full time job, unless I write full time, but then I will eventually run out anyway.
I have considered, after uni working part time and writing part time.. but it does worry me.
Will my dream of being a writer ever become reality, although I dont care about how much work I have to do, or time..money is my only issue.
I write because I want too not for the money- before that becomes a debate.my published stuff I have never been paid for, I do it because I love it...but realistically ..long term, how do I make this work? Thanks SO much

BA in what subject, is the final essay saleble?

There is no substitute for hard work, more hard work, and when you've finished that, some more hard work; there really is no substitute. Every long-term successful person has put the hours in. You can't luck-in to a career in writing; there is no X-Factor for writers, No Britain's/America's Next Top Writer competition on television to shoot you to a Booker or Pulitzer prize after having queued for an audition on a Friday morning.

I'm telling you this as someone who never put in the hours, and never succeeded at anything, and while I watched the cricket at the weekend I watched as others succeeded - Fortunately I am not given to envy, so it didn't bother me, but it doesn't mean that I don't understand that talent only flowers when backed by a lot of effort. You have a year to go, you can catch up on your sleep next year and the year after, what you can't do is use youth's ability to do without sleep when you are 40. If you want to be a writer forego evenings in front of the television, only go to the pub in the company of other writers and talk about writing; read, read, read and analyise what you read, find out why what you like works, dismantle it and put it back together, books are like engines, carefully constructed to perform one function, it is the imagination the designer which decides whether it is a Ford or a Ferrari - And while I'm at it, don't forget to work...

CharBar - do it all! Im in my 30s, work full time, go back to college full time, show horses and take care of my 85 year old grandpa. Now of course I have completely forgone all but moments of personal pleasure LOL!!! Don't fill yourself with worries...just march the path and worry about how to cross rivers when you get there. Sometimes there is a bridge, other times a boat and sometimes you have to swim - but if you never start the journey because you can't see the bridge you have defeated yourself.

Also - there is nothing better than life experience to make your writing realistic. Work, love, try, fail, embrace it all and write about it!

Char, when I was trying to juggle my BSc, my job and my own health problems with caring for my partner, my Dad & my Grandmother who were all seriously ill at the same time, I wondered if I'd ever come out the other end. At this stage I have learned that if you just keep going, doing the best you can as you go, you will get there in the end. Dad (who died last year) taught me the value of taking one day at a time. Thats a cliche in many ways but the real lesson was in being disciplined about it- when I start to get swamped, I have to consciously stop myself from going into that tailspin of 'what ifs'. There have been times in the last few years when I've had to take life literally 5 minutes at a time, when I've been standing in front of the kettle repeating to myself 'just make the tea, just make the tea' to avoid getting overwhelmed by the amount that I had to get through in the rest of the day. I graduated late but got there in the end. I had to leave the job & that actually turned out to be such a postive thing. The moral of the story is that nothing will be changed by you worrying about it. If writing is important to you, you will find a way of doing it as you go along. I got on a bit of a ramble there lol but seriously, you'll drive yourself demented worrying about it. These things work themselves out if you just keep doing your best. I hope that didnt sound all about me but when you say to someone 'take things as they come' it sounds like such a trite, unthoughtful response so I wanted to explain a little. That advice was a life saver for me, a real survival tactic that I go back to time and again.