Posted by octopusprime on February 24, 2004, at 1:45:08
In reply to writing careers, posted by Joslynn on February 23, 2004, at 12:16:14
joslynn, i'm interested in the responses to your questions.
as i have said before, i'm an unstressed tech writer. my new job is more interesting than my old job. i do sales and proposal writing, marketing writing, technical writing, quality assurance, and a little web development. because of the variety, it is more interesting. but i know i will be tired of this in two years, then where do i go?
i am seriously considering academia. publish or perish as a paradigm does not seem too stressful a burden to me. graduate student and faculty politics is a bit of a pain, but the flexible schedules, excellent salaries, and good perks after 10 years of mild to moderate pain and suffering (including a retirement plan!!!) make it seem worthwhile. plus you get to write about a topic you care about.
writers don't make any money. consultants do, though. :) so if you have acquired specialized subject matter expertise in your time as a writer, could you apply it to a consulting field? (of course, then you have to suffer the powerpoint fools, which i could not do gladly.)
or maybe you could freelance? it comes with its own set of pitfalls (for example, getting paid) but you could be your own boss and set your own schedule.
i took a course in indexing once, which was kind of neat. it's more of a freelance thing. deadlines are short, so i imagine that would be stressful, but you do get to be your own boss, and the woman i learned from seemed fairly comfortable doing 12 indexes a year and teaching courses to supplement her income. (i like indexing and i think it's neat)
so i have no real advice. sorry your job is sucking. i definitely agree that job issues can affect your mental health. can you take a vacation, even a long weekend?
are you sure it's your industry, and not just your company? moving from a big company to a small company in the same industry really improved my outlook on my work.
this is long and rambly but i hope you get some ideas.
poster:octopusprime
thread:316845
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/write/20040102/msgs/317079.html