New Year's Resolutions? Keep on Writing...

Like most folks this time of year, I reflect back on what has transpired in the last year and also look forward to the promise of new and wonderful things ahead. I have thought about what I have achieved with my writing and what I hope to pursue in the coming year. I originally wrote this awhile ago, but am encouraged that some of my perceptions about the life of a free lance writer have actually "evolved" into perhaps a more realistic view. I've had a few articles published, completed my first book and had many ups and downs. Yet I have resolved to just keep plugging....

I am a Writer because I write, not to be defined by a paycheck. I have been published several times, but the “steady paycheck” for my efforts has yet to transpire.  I write about this today, because I know I have to come to grips with this myself, because I am the one that is most affected by attitudes of others and also my own introspective attitudes.  Attitudes that can be hurtful to me and undermine my inspiration.  Attitudes that can demean and feel condescending to me…if I let them.  So in writing about this issue that I am grappling with in my life, I am hoping it will help me come to terms with this.

 “Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.”
― Confucius
 

I am loving what I do, but do not receive a regular paycheck: one of the risks you take as a freelance writer.  I love my life as a writer, so far so good.

Prior to beginning my life as a writer, I had been receiving a paycheck since I was 16 years old. Through the years the size of the checks have gone up and down, which is not surprising at all considering the variety of jobs I have held.  I never really thought about it too much, because I have always had a check, big or small, they have always been there.  When my husband took the plunge and decided to retire, and I knew we would be OK (financially stable) so I could pursue my passion of writing. This being said, it is not required of me to have an income, but I have yet to adjust to the fact that I don’t have one. Then here begins the Feminist argument that women should be self-sufficient in the economic realm. Through the years the value and true monetary figure of what has traditionally been described as “women’s work”, raising children and efficiently operating a household, has never been actually determined.  Which is not surprising because it is extremely difficult to put an exact monetary value on something that is an intangible concept.  In discussing this type of work, a woman is not producing a tangible, marketable product.  I know in my heart that women have made great strides in having the value of their work appreciated by society as a whole and not just other women with the same struggles. 

In the book “The Second Stage”, by Betty Friedan (a brilliant woman in my opinion!) she discusses the second stage of the feminist movement which seeks to end the polarization of feminism and the family, and also between men and women.  Published in 1981, when I was still in college and an aspiring journalist, her words really spoke to me, and really created a stir in both feminist and relationship circles. Even though it was written quite some time ago, the validity of it still rings true.  Some ideas she presented have evolved into every day, commonly accepted practices. Sadly, some of the tired, old attitudes still exist.  I have to review my own attitudes and find what works for me and also the people that I love.

So I come full circle with this discussion, trying once again to affirm that my value as a human being is not determined by the size of my paycheck or for that matter, if there is any paycheck at all! Especially as a woman, the people I love and take care of , the meals I share with them, the flowers I tend, the journals I create....all these things provide value and beauty in my world, and the world I share with those I love. That is better than any paycheck I could receive. Betty would be proud of me...and Maya too!