I had to laugh when someone reached out today with a writing gig that could only pay in exposure.
Buddy, I've been barely holding my life together on gigs that went from paying to nonpaying, unreliable classes, and seasons of high editing demand followed by crickets.
I'm freaking done with adding more uncertainty to life in a field that pays peanuts. At this point, I'm waiting out the next coronal mass ejection like any sane person, and looking forward to a better economy on the other side. 🙃
@realDDGlover @MLClark Yes, yes they do. And I hate it.
Of course, it's far worse for people who actually try to make a living off music/writing - I just do it as a hobby, because growing up seeing a lot of people struggle to make a living in the arts convinced me to do something else.
I swear all the "arts" fields tend to exploit the hell out of artists... and of course the businesspeople and corporations circle like vultures, preparing to snatch as much of the rights/proceeds as they can.
Yeah, we can only afford doing writing and music cuz of the day jobs. And we only have time cuz retired.
Sad how we treat our creatives.
The funny thing is that teaching was supposed to be my main job. But I couldn't keep paying the term fees for my PhD with my dissertation twice-drafted for a terrible committee, and that bumped me into teaching at colleges while barely hanging on via other part time jobs. Teaching abroad was supposed to help (& admittedly gave me a chance to pay off student debt), but then THAT company screwed me over big time. Writing kept me afloat when the mainstays fell apart.
But I'm not a fool. I never intended to be living in this mess of a fragile way, reliant on "the arts". It's not a life path I would ever, ever, ever recommend to others.