This is excellent. I only ever wrote one piece for a big national glossy and by the time it was published it was so not my writing anymore that I never even told anyone I wrote it.
It infuriates me when people argue against writers earning a living wage. Yes, art is important and valuable and as such, those who create it should be paid well. I remember when magazines paid $1-$2 a word. I was a makeup artist working with Vogue, Elle, etc, but I longed to be a writer at those publications.
I remember a writer telling me to remain a celebrity and editorial makeup artist because I made more than she did and I had an agent to fight for me. I was still incredibly jealous of her writing. But she was right, even back then I was earning more than writers. Today, when I see rates for writers, I'm angered by the lack of respect. I commit myself to writing and publishing my book series and that feels right for me.
Thank you. That writer gave good advice. There was a lot that was fun about it, and at the time I think I justified it as paying my dues or whatnot. I had no idea that would be the peak!
Enjoying it is everything! So glad to hear that!! Many times along the way with my TV writing (a dream come true, for sure) I have felt the loss of that joy as I sit around making lateral changes to something. Or as you put it : "More often, your job was to rip apart the prose you’d painstakingly crafted so that you could wedge in many different editors’ ideas, even if they made no sense to you. "
I decided women's mags were not for me after a similar experience. One told me that my bio should not say I lived in Berlin because that would not be "relatable" for their readers, which was so astonishingly patronising...
This is excellent. I only ever wrote one piece for a big national glossy and by the time it was published it was so not my writing anymore that I never even told anyone I wrote it.
So many people have this experience!
That's so freaking sad. Wow.
This is great, and gave me such PTSD flashbacks to writing for magazines! :) But also, that $2 a word!
Haha, yes. I writing it gave me a little PTSD! Thanks, Jennifer!
It infuriates me when people argue against writers earning a living wage. Yes, art is important and valuable and as such, those who create it should be paid well. I remember when magazines paid $1-$2 a word. I was a makeup artist working with Vogue, Elle, etc, but I longed to be a writer at those publications.
I remember a writer telling me to remain a celebrity and editorial makeup artist because I made more than she did and I had an agent to fight for me. I was still incredibly jealous of her writing. But she was right, even back then I was earning more than writers. Today, when I see rates for writers, I'm angered by the lack of respect. I commit myself to writing and publishing my book series and that feels right for me.
This is a really great article.
Thank you. That writer gave good advice. There was a lot that was fun about it, and at the time I think I justified it as paying my dues or whatnot. I had no idea that would be the peak!
Enjoying it is everything! So glad to hear that!! Many times along the way with my TV writing (a dream come true, for sure) I have felt the loss of that joy as I sit around making lateral changes to something. Or as you put it : "More often, your job was to rip apart the prose you’d painstakingly crafted so that you could wedge in many different editors’ ideas, even if they made no sense to you. "
Yes, it's easy to lose touch with why we wanted to do this in the first place!
I decided women's mags were not for me after a similar experience. One told me that my bio should not say I lived in Berlin because that would not be "relatable" for their readers, which was so astonishingly patronising...
Oy!
Thanks, Daniela! Glad to know this one resonated too.