Dollar signs in our eyes, but not in our hearts - Writers Forum

StephenP2003 · 02-29-2008, 12:55 AM

Dollar signs in our eyes, but not in our hearts

In an abandoned blog on LiveJournal, I typed the following entry on September 29, 2004:

“I'm upset today, thinking about how poorly I'm doing right now. I considered changing my major, but to what? There's nothing else I'm really interested in, except writing. I always considered being an English major or doing something like journalism, but contrary to stupid clichés, money IS everything.”

I typed this one on October 17, 2004, 18 days later:

“You know, if you read a few journals down … ‘Money is everything,’ is what I said. Well, I had an epiphany today. Money is not everything. Money is great, and I love money, but I don't love it if I have to be unhappy to get it.”

It’s not exactly the profoundest way to express my change of heart, though it made me realize how much I used to allow outside influences to toss me in the wrong directions – or rather, directions that didn’t feel right to me.

Once upon a time, I was a computer-engineering major with a minor in English. On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, I went to Circuits I and then to Major British Authors. I studied Calc. II after writing a paper for ENGL 2300 (I still don’t know what the hell that class was really about).

Now that I’m midway through the second semester of my fifth year in college, I can call my 1.5 years as an engineering major the “lost years.” I did the engineering for the money and the English for the love of it. What was I thinking?

Once upon a time, I was taught that a college degree was about making a salary well above the poverty line. Someone told me a higher education put you in a state of social well-being unfit for the likes of these so-called slackers who decided to go to trade school and be a mechanic or a welder.

I went to college to be smart, and to be smart I had to pick a field of study that promised a viable career. Engineers make bank.

I said, “Money IS everything.”

No.

In my family, teachers and liberal arts majors are frowned upon. They don’t make any money. Teachers might even make less than a ditch digger. Why even go to college if you’re not going to make more than a ditch digger?

And don’t even get me started on writers. Journalists in Baton Rouge make a humiliatingly low salary, and creative writing is more of a hobby than it is a job; you won’t sell your novel or your screenplay, and if you do, it’ll generate supplementary income at best. Why even go to college for English or acting or drawing or dancing or anything that doesn’t involve molesting a graphing calculator to its breaking point?

It took me a full year and part of a semester to grow up and find a middle ground between educating myself for money and educating myself for empowerment.

Money is the root of most of our problems. Money will make most of us happy, and we’d all much rather have an endless supply of it. But it’s not everything.

Many of us would quit work and pursue our hobbies if we never had to worry about money. We dream every day about being successful and rich so we can fully extract that image of happiness we have painted in our heads. All it takes is money.

But I insist; it’s not everything.

When you dream of money, you fall in one of two categories: You dream of winning it, or you dream of earning it exponentially. Do you want to win the lottery or open the right cases on “Deal or No Deal,” or do you want to make an unprecedented leap in your career to become a legend of the industry?

The latter category consists of those who have made the right choices. You’re in the right frame of mind to continue your education and be what you’ve aspired to be. While you probably won’t get anywhere close to your grandiose dreams, you will spend the rest of your life moving in a forward direction to at least try.

But the “lottery” category members should ask themselves why the idea of an instant-win, instant-retirement jackpot is more appealing than success. It tells the rest of the world that you aren’t sure of your goals. You seem to think you don’t have options, or that money is all you work for. What is stopping you from lifting a single finger to work toward having ambition beyond what you deem realistic?

I once knew a mechanic who wanted to do his own radio show to give advice about automobiles. He could’ve said he wanted to win the Powerball so he could collect and restore classic cars, but he said half of his job was about helping people.

A radio personality wouldn’t necessarily make bank, but it would have surpassed his desired standard of living.

The only reason the car mechanic didn’t go to college was because he wanted to be a car mechanic.

As an English major, a writer and an editor, I have not quite reached my desired standard of living. I dream of helping others through writing, wherever that might take me. I’m still moving in the right direction. If everything you do, every day, is in an effort to get to where you think you want to go, you’ll always be moving forward.

Do you want to know why I’d rather write than make a high salary? So do I.

rumpole40k · 02-29-2008, 07:05 AM

Went through this same thing a few years back. I'm surrounded by people making A LOT more than I am. I noticed something, though. Even with their cars, houses, new rolex ... you get the idea ... most of them are still worrying about money b/c they're spending far above what they make. So, I guess my view shifted once I realized that. Now, I'm more concerned with living within my means so I really don't have to worry as much about money and being happy.
Rumpole40k

StephenP2003 · 03-04-2008, 08:42 PM

Yeah, I know a lot of people who make three times my salary and struggle more than I do. I guess I'm fortunate to enjoy only the simple things, like a laptop, a roof, a tv, and an internet connection.

SevenWritez · 03-04-2008, 09:37 PM

Excellent piece. Reading this made me feel like a slightly lesser piece of shit for not wanting to go to college (I'm currently a Junior in high school taking AP English class for no other reason than 'Fuck it'). I momentarily swelled up with pride when you said I was on the right track for being on the latter track, but I'm probably one of the one in the millions of writers who is ambitious now, and bitch-hard angry later in life. Either way, nice piece, it was a good minute of inspiration.

JohnN · 03-05-2008, 08:38 AM

As someone who had a job they didn't like but finally left, this resonated with me a lot. Just to be able to wake up and not dread the day ahead. Sunday night is no longer waiting for the impending doom. It can even be fun.

An enjoyable read Stephen. From the heart, good stuff.

Sam Winchester · 03-06-2008, 10:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JohnN

As someone who had a job they didn't like but finally left, this resonated with me a lot. Just to be able to wake up and not dread the day ahead. Sunday night is no longer waiting for the impending doom. It can even be fun.

An enjoyable read Stephen. From the heart, good stuff.

I wish I had the guts to do that, John, really do. I'd quit my job right now and go back to college in a heartbeat. I can completely relate to you. I wake up in the morning dreading the day ahead. Surely that's no way to be? Anyway, this is a good piece, Stephen. Like John said, from the heart.

Sam.

adrianhayter · 03-09-2008, 05:05 PM

Sometimes it's not about money and more about prestige.

Case in point:

The Doctor's toilet stops up one night and he calls the plumber.

Plumber shows, fixes the toilet in five minutes and says,

"That'll be four hundred dollars, please."

Doctor screams , " Are you kidding? that's more than I make as a doctor."

Plumber says, " Yeah I know. That's why I dropped out of medical school."

Adrian

SueC · 03-26-2008, 02:45 PM

Stephen, why don't you do both?

It seems to me that writers for all their creativity really have trouble thinking outside the box, to overuse a cliche (and I'm not talking about you Stephen since I don't know you, just what I read in so many posts).

Sending out query after query for $50 article jobs; thinking that book contracts are going to make them a ton of money; working their butss off looking for clients to sell articles to or other writing at a fraction of what that client is going to make off the same piece of writing.

And for fiction writers - it's really tough to make a lot of oney writing poetry. But seems to me that there is no reason someone can't pursue their passion and also make money, maybe not on the same output, but kind of like having a PT job except your PT job is writing for money.

Quote:

Originally Posted by StephenP2003

Do you want to know why I’d rather write than make a high salary? So do I.

SueC

Judith Tramayne · 04-03-2008, 05:56 PM

I find it interesting when a writer doesn't feel they can make money.

The Internet is a wide open for making money and doing what you enjoy -- writing.

Millions are made with non-fiction ebooks everyday. And not just in Internet Marketing. There are thousands of niches on the Internet where people who can write solid content make money.

Why don't you want to be one of them? All it takes is being seen as an expert.

And what is an expert? A person who knows a little more than the person who doesn't.

So what is it you love doing or explaining?

Then do a Google search and see if others love doing it also. Then look at the sites that are offering useful content.

Can you do better?

If so have at it and make the money you want.

Frankly being happy and having money are not opposite sides of the coin. The whole point of writing is sharing what you know. And asking dollars for that knowledge and getting it, means others see the value of what you've shared.

The more you have to share the more money you make.

Does this take work -- oh yes. But the work is so much fun, you'll laugh all the way to the bank.

Judith

Prof · 04-03-2008, 11:25 PM

You got a good lesson learned young. I had the greatest job in the world, I got paid to teach and research things I was interested in. Hell, I still do that and no one pays me now.

I've coined a low, The Law of the Wrong $100. It state that you will be $100 short at the end of the month. It doesn't matter how much you make, you will want another $100. And it further states that if you get a $100 raise you will still be $100 short at the end of he month, Hence the name Wrong $100.

Case in point, when I started in teaching (jr High no less) I earned $4400 for my first year. My last year teaching I earned about $71000. I still would like that extra $100 at the end of the month.

and BTW educators are no longer grossly underpaid. The may not earn as much as a doctor, but they do all right.

kc1 · 04-19-2008, 07:58 PM

I have a friend who hates her job but loves the money, which she never has enough of. So she will work overtime at a job she hates for more money. I have pointed out to her, she lives in a huge home etc.etc. and could easily downsize, change her direction, actually retire and find peace. Funny, she doesn't seem to hear me or says things like, "you don't understand". Is the answer as simple as that or am I missing something.? I think this society is in for a big change and to ones like you, who can live happily simple are going to do just fine. kc1