My Creative Writing College Degree Has Not Helped Me Pay the Bills, But...

My undergraduate college degree was a Creative Writing BFA (Bachelor of Fine Arts) during which I enjoyed many wonderful poetry courses. I quite liked most of my classes and enjoyed being friends with many fellow poets, participating in poetry readings, submitting to small press poetry magazines and more. I received this degree in poetry quite a few years ago and I have continued reading, writing and submitting poetry ever since, as well as increasingly working on my own writing techniques until they have much improved. I've become a well-published poet, in both print and online, as well as having quite a few published books. I have also started my own small press, in order to help publish other poets whose work appeals to me. My small press publishing includes Blood Pudding Press, which creates printed chapbooks-and Thirteen Myna Birds, which is an odd little online site. I also write occasional poetry reviews, poetry-related blogs, and have a poetry website.

I spend a great deal of my time working on poetry reading, writing, submitting and publishing-and why wouldn't I? I have a hard time understanding or relating to why some people do not spend much time on what really matters to them and what they seriously enjoy. I adore poetry and enjoy working hard in that area. Despite working long and hard and becoming an overly successful poet, I must admit that my poetry activity does not pay my bills. In fact, poetry barely makes much money at all, unless one is a college instructor of poetry, which I am not as I never got a Master's Degree.

For many years after earning my BFA, I worked at the same museum, having various jobs that were not reading/writing/poetry related but where tolerable enough. I started working part-time jobs there, but had received a decent full-time job some years back and liked most of the people I worked with. It was not a job that I loved, but nor did I strongly dislike it. I didn't make a large amount of money, but I did make enough to pay my bills, plus I received a good benefits package. Also, after having worked at the same place for many years, I had finally earned an absolutely wonderful schedule-I worked four ten hour days and then had three consecutive days off, which allowed me a good amount of time to work on my poetry and other personal details. In fact, that lovely work schedule was my favorite part of the entire job. I felt like I finally had a wonderfully lucky but well-deserved job schedule.

Due in part to how much I liked that job schedule, I lost my desire to go back to school for a Master's Degree, because I had enough time to devote to poetry and could interact with plenty of other poets online. Granted, for quite a few years I thought it seemed like poets with Masters Degrees seemed to be taken more seriously and have more poetic success, but I eventually reached the point during which my own poetry had become good enough that I was a successful poet, too. Sure, if I had gotten a Master's Degree, then I would have more likelihood of working at a college, but I didn't feel much need for that when I'd had a tolerable full-time job with good benefits and a great schedule for many years; a schedule that gave me a good amount of time to work on my poetic pursuits. Making lots of money was never as important to me as poetic creativity. Yes it might have been even better if I could make a successful amount of money from that creativity, at least enough so that I did not need to work at an unloved full-time job for the rest of my life, but as long as I did have to work there, I would deal with it.

Well, now I know that even if I had no full-time job and even more time to devote to my writing, it still would not pay the bills. I found this out because in late November 2008, I unexpectedly lost my full-time job position. It's not that I was fired; I had been an excellent worker for years. Unfortunately, my job itself was eliminated. That unlikely and unexpected situation was pretty tough to deal with; since I had been working at the place shortly after graduating from college and all the way into my mid-thirties, it really did not seem fair, but it happened. I was darn disappointed and also annoyed, but at least I was given a Severance package that would last for the rest of 2008. I hoped to have received a new job after that--but I had not received a new job after my Severance package came to an end, so I applied for Unemployment and began receiving that a few months later. Even though the unemployment money I got was less than half of what I used to make, I was still able to use it to pay my part of the bills; I just did not have extra money to spend on anything else. For example, I could not afford to buy books, but luckily I could trade copies of some of my own poetry books for copies of some of other writer's books.

Unfortunately, more than a year after losing my long-time bill-paying job, I still had not received a new job, even though I had applied for well over 100 different positions! I'd had only about five job interviews and know new job. Fortunately, I was still continuing to receive my weekly unemployment, and although I was sometimes upset and stressed out that I had not gotten a new job yet, I would not become incredibly upset/stressed out until I had no more unemployment money to receive. In addition to applying for new jobs, I also spent time looking into various ways I might earn money from writing. In fact, that was the reason I started writing articles on Associated Content. I have to say that Associated Content does not pay well at all, but heck, since I wasn't making enough money from a job, even making a tiny little bit from writing an article seemed worthwhile-especially since I also thought that working on such articles might strengthen my skills as an article writer and then maybe I could submit some of those article pieces to magazines that might also pay me. Indeed, I did submit articles to various magazines and online sources, but almost none of them paid. Still, even though my poetry is my favorite kind of writing, I also think it's a good idea to increase my skills in other kinds of writing, too.

Although such writing would be even more enthralling if it did help pay the bills, even if it doesn't, I'm a person who likes to write in various ways and so I have kept at it. I spent hours upon hours a day working on writing that ranged from poetry to articles to reviews to blog entries and more. Of course, I also continued to look into and apply for jobs, update my Resume, write all kinds of different cover letters and so forth. In addition, since I was no longer making enough money to create a lot of print chapbooks through my Blood Pudding Press, I started my online publishing site called Thirteen Myna Birds and spent time reading and responding to the poems submitted and frequently updating that site. Although none of my poetry activity came close to paying the bills, I had not expected it to. I'd been a long working creative writer for many years and wasn't into that arena because I thought it would make me rich. I was into it because I seriously love poetry reading and writing. Several years before I lost my full-time job, I had started a poetry-related etsy site online in order to sell copies of the poetry chapbooks published by Blood Pudding Press, because of course I wanted interested people to be able to purchase them. They weren't overly expensive, but had to have a price-tag in order to help me continue to purchase the equipment with which to make them. I started that site in October 2006, have made almost 300 sales since then, and have used most of the money received to purchase the necessary equipment for making more chapbooks, buying books and other unique items from other creative etsy people, and occasionally buying special birthday cards and little gifts for others. Since losing my job, I stopped using the little bit of money made at my Blood Pudding Press etsy shop to purchase small gifts for myself or others and pretty much only used it for poetry chapbook supplies; however, it wasn't really enough money for that, which is why I began my online publishing site, too.

Also after losing my full-time paying job, I started working in a volunteer-like capacity, as part of a Writer and Public Relations Team Member for CutThroat Entertainment, a local independent film making company. Since I enjoy writing and other kinds of creativity, I didn't mind working to help another creative group, especially since as they gained power and popularity, those of us who had been involved with them for a while would hopefully be able to make some money.

A little over a year after I lost my long full-time job, at the beginning of January 2010, I suffered from an unexpected stroke and almost died. Luckily, I had surgery and survived but now I have Aphasia and can't read, write, spell or easily think of the right words as well as I used to. I still don't have a job and cannot apply for new jobs right now, because in addition to my speaking, spelling, reading, and writing problems, I have trouble remembering certain things-plus which, I am often visiting a Speech Therapist, going to the doctor or hospital for a follow up and sleeping considerably longer than I used to in order to help my recovery. I am no longer receiving unemployment money, even though I would have been eligible for more of that if I was still applying for jobs every week, but I'm not. Although I have recovered significantly during the last few months, I still have much room for improvement. I hope I recover entirely, especially in regards to my writing-but frankly, I have very little ideas about how to pay my bills before, during, or even after my complete recovery. That is definitely a significant issue and I hope to find a way to improve that situation. Even more troublesome and upsetting to me personally though is the fact that I can't read or write as well as I used to, all different kinds of writing but especially poetry!

It was a bad kind of year and a half to lose a long full-time job for no good reason and then suffer from a stroke, but as long as I can become a good poet again, I think I will become quite happy. Of course, being a good poet again still won't help me pay the bills, so I only recommend serious poetry activity to those who truly love that kind of writing.

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Juliet Cook's Poetry related online sight - www.JulietCook.weebly.com

The Blood Pudding Press shop - www.BloodPuddingPress.etsy.com

Thirteen Myna Birds - http://13myna.blogspot.com

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Read more about my Stroke and Aphasia here-

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/2807396/poststroke_survival_and_sad_little.html?cat=7