I took an actual vacation — a long delayed (Covid) 30th anniversary trip. My husband and I both have demanding publishing jobs, and spend a lot of vacation time apart to write. It was nice to know that we still get along, hiking and talking about our writing projects, our life choices to work inside the industry and not pursue writing full time, the need for structure and a regular paycheck, the creature comforts, wondering about the road less travelled, lamenting our cowardice, grateful for our jobs and the rich life working with writers and books.
What road did you take?
Filed under: Writing |
Betsy Lerner 
Glad to hear the road you chose took you where you wanted to go.
We took your road too. Resented parents telling us to keep our art as a ‘hobby’ but it’s what we did in the end. We took a year off before kids and after writing full time I ended that year earning $250 for two poems. So we chose kids and a mortgage and to keep our hobbies as something we enjoy, not something we have to do for money
The road took me.
Now, after a dozen years as the sole caregiver for my beloved, his death, and
the voiceless grief that followed, I have gone back to the only place I trust and have emerged at 75 with a memoir that frightens even me.
Jax Peters Lowell
As an early twenty-something I was presented with a unexpected on-ramp to a road which I was told would change my life and the face of publishing. Very exciting. Problem ? I had no guidance. I had no idea what was being offered. I was clueless. I dropped the proverbial ball and took an off-ramp. The publisher who threw money at me while offering me the stuff of dreams became one of the big-six.
Fifty years later I can see the end of the road. It’s been a hell of a ride. No regrets because fate had my back.
In case I pop up as anon, I am 2Ns giving everyone a wave.
My comment didn’t show up so I am trying again.
Sorry if it’s a repeat.
As an early twenty-something I was presented with a unexpected on-ramp to a road which I was told would change my life and the face of publishing. Very exciting. Problem ? I had no guidance. I had no idea what was being offered. I was clueless. I dropped the proverbial ball and took an off-ramp. The publisher who threw money at me while offering me the stuff of dreams became one of the big-six.
Fifty years later I can see the end of the road. It’s been a hell of a ride. No regrets because fate had my back.
In case I pop up as anon, I am 2Ns giving everyone a wave.
Welcome back, Betsy.
“What road did you take?”
A middling path, not unlike the one you described. I knew when I was still in high school that I was somewhat of a homebody, and would always seek a life that guaranteed me a roof over my head and chicken and peas on the table. I also knew that, whatever else I might do, I was going to write and write about it. Those times that I passed the Starving Artist Bypass, I always chose to remain on a somewhat more secure avenue — or near to it, as it often seemed I was walking along the shoulder or marooned in the breakdown lane. I knew that I was often serving two masters, and serving neither one well, but so be it. That was the life I chose to be chosen by, the road I could discover only by walking it.
The safe path. I wanted to be an artist, but after a week at a well-known college, I realized I was a tiny fish in a huge pond. All those kids with so much talent terrified me. I took my intiminated self back home, went to the local college, and became a teacher. Not so bad. I met my sweet husband and had my amazing kids.
P.S. Betsy, I received the book you sent for a competition I won. I sent a thank-you note, but it was returned and marked undeliverable. Thank you!
Bonnie Shimko
The conventional path. The traditional one. Husband. Kids. Solid. I am who I am. Regret is not an option. Art requires sacrifice, luck, courage and a dollop of crazy. But I’m still having fun fiddling around at the keyboard, too sane to have gone the road less…
Diane Melton. Hi y’all. Don’t know why its anon
Diane Melton
Happy Anniversary, Betsy! I’ve never forgotten you telling me that you read “Revolutionary Road” on your honeymoon. It seems to me that you and J live in the best of both worlds. That’s nothing to sneeze at! Congrats!
May I say mazel tov on your happy 30th anniversary. I had a surprise pregnancy and beautiful baby boy at 19. That set my life in motion. His father died at 23 when I was 23. I wrote poetry. Worked at Scott Foresman, remarried at 35, and discovered I wanted to write. Discovered I am an artist. At 60 2nd husband died. All my life has become fodder for my “work” and I love it. Working on novels, plays, short stories. I didn’t start out here, but here I am, happy as a clam. Might be happier if I publish, but who knows…happy as I am for the first time in my life. 💚
Oh my gosh, it’s not just the road not taken; I’ve been in the ditch for as long as I can remember, dirty, broken, disenchanted and also in love, happy and still looking forward to what’s around the next bend.
And congratulations on your 30th!
-MikeD
Tried to take a similar road to yours. But many of us did not escape the cycle of publishing job–layoff–new publishing job. Last layoff happened when I was in my 50s, now cobbling together freelance work at a fraction of my in-house salary. Published a memoir in 1997 with a toddler underfoot, nothing since. Files full of creative nonfiction.
Congratulations on your anniversary! My husband and I sold everything and moved into a motorhome and travel full-time. We are still getting along despite spending just about every waking moment together. It is a challenge to my writing though.
Well, the plan was to live more life then I’d have something to write about. I just didn’t expect life to go so fast. Once I did carve out more time to dedicate to writing, I found I didn’t like the publishing side quite as much. Agents and editors and readers and reviewers and so on was a high, but time consuming, soul sucking, distracting. Lord knows I didn’t do it for the money. Who was I actually writing for? Me, it turns out. I have a great job that I love, make a decent income, and in my free time I write stories that amuse myself and my loved ones. Publish again? Maybe. But only on my terms.