Writing vs. Unemployment

As I browsed the University of Cincinnati’s job listings for any work study or student positions, I was reminded of that common question a lot of writers have: “Am I really a writer, or just unemployed?”

This is difficult to answer, but the solution essentially nests with one’s individual priorities.

Is writing a stop-gap on the road to other gainful employment? Is the end goal to simply find another job, dropping all current projects? Or it is somewhere in between: finding a job for support as that manuscript grows? Or is writing your life? What makes a writer a writer?

Easy answer: A [writer writes], regardless of employment.

But that doesn’t cover it either. I want to believe that being a writer is more than, say, keeping a journal while you have no fiscal occupation. Writing is a need for a writer, not just a want or a hobby. Writing has it’s own, unique creative heartbeat and any writer is a slave to that endless thumping.

I would say that writers write more.

Now, for some Googling. Today’s Search: [Are you a writer or just unemployed?]

-[”no supervisor, no deadlines, and no billable hours.”]

-[”Confession time: I am an unemployed writer”]

-["”Freelance writer is another way of saying unemployed...chuckle, chuckle, chuckle.”"]

-[Freelance Writer? Or Unemployed Loser?]