It's Not a Hobby! It's My Job!!!

A lot of people consider writing a hobby. It's something they do to blow of steam, self-reflect, or let their creative juices (I hate that phrase) flow. For most of these people, writing just comes naturally. It flows, they have fun with it, and eventually they start to think "I could totally do this for a living."

Maybe they can. But they probably don't want to.

Writing for fun is not the same as writing for work. Don't get me wrong-it's an amazing job, and if you're serious about it, go get it, but it's still work. You don't always get to write about what you want to cover- try writing 15 "How to Treat a Blister" articles for the same content mill and you'll understand. Add in the fact that you're competing for every job with an army of other freelancers, and you'll have an idea of the hipster shark tank that is my battlefield.

Writing a book? Working on that novel? How's that going? Let me guess-real life got in the way. It'll do that, and unless your books are huge earners (movie adaptation FTW), you'll probably still need a day job.

Even if you manage to complete your book (you're a better man than I), trying to sell a novel is no picnic either. I've got a few friends who are shopping their books around and having a tough time finding a publishing venue. Heck, I've spoken with an author when he was #1 on the bestseller list and who's had his book turned into a tv series, and he says he still doesn't have a butler.

So the next time you tell me that you're getting bored with your job and thinking about writing a book, I'll say "good for you."

Then I'll say "I'm getting bored with writing and thinking about becoming a (insert your career)."

Because it's that easy, right? Try not to flippantly refer to my source of income as my "hobby"-this stuff is hard work.

Alright, enough ranting-I've got to go test rain gear on my mountain bike.