Day Job

We were discussing TEE subjects at lunch today and I mentioned that I was dropping out of maths and science for TEE, which is our university entrance exam that you start preparing for in year eleven. Everyone was looking at me as though I'd just admitted I was a mass murderer or something.

"How are you going to get to uni?" they asked. I explained patiently that you can pass high school and get into uni without maths or science. They still looked worried.

"Most courses have prerequisites, you know" they said. I explained that none of the courses that required maths or science were on my list.

"So what do you want to be when you graduate?" they asked. Housecleaner. Shoe shiner. What else did they think?

"A writer", I said, getting annoyed now. Hadn't I just mentioned a godzillion times that writing is the ONLY thing I am good at?

"Yeah, but what about your day job?"

I blew it then. Day job. Not every writer needs a day job. And getting a day job before you've even *tried* to publish a book is just admitting that you're a pathetic writer, and that you know you can't support yourself with your writing. That's not me.

And it's always writers that have to get the day job. Why do people have such a low opinion of writers? You pick up the nearest book to you and see if you can write shit like that. No. It's hard. Bloody hard.

People who take a liking to me always seem to be disappointed that I want to be a writer, with my backup plans including acting and journalism. I can't see why - I would be perfectly happy to introduce myself as a writer or a journalist or an actress - it's not like I'm introducing myself as a prostitute or something. What do they want me to be? Professor extrodinaire? That's not me. I can't stand the thought of being in a school or institution of any sort after I graduate. I hate school. I hate the idea of having to listen to people, especially in things I don't like and aren't good at. I get bullied at school. Teased. Blackmailed. If they think I'm gonna be some professor holed up in some university, then they thought wrong.

Besides, it's my life, isn't it? I never tell anyone not to do, at least not seriously, anyway. I can do what I want - that's the definition of independence, isn't it? If I were good at sport everyone would support me if I became what was obvious, a sportswoman, but I'm not. I'm a writer, and everyone has so much faith in me they think I need a bloody day job.

You never hear of other people having day jobs. You never hear a doctor saying 'Oh yeah, I'm a doctor...but I stack shelves in Coles as well, just to make ends meet'. I mean, why writers?

Writers have power. Power we like to wield and abuse. Power you don't want to mess with.