The Day Job
I have a day job--well, sort of.
I "write" an industry newsletter for a beer importer. I put "write" in quotations because I actually peruse news sources and find stuff of interest and condense it into snippets. A kind of headline journal. I find funny stuff: the horse in FL who thinks he's human and fetches beer out of a refrigerator (no mention if the beer is for the horse or his owners.) Weird stuff: the Noweigan woman who turned on her tap to wash dishes and beer came out (somehow lines got crossed with a pub downstairs). Bizarre stuff: Belgians who want to give schoolchildren light ale instead of pop because it's healthier. And sometimes scary stuff: an al-Qaeda plot to poison beer at UK soccer games. Mostly, though, it's stories of the industry giants gobbling up small breweries and targeting third world countries to capture emerging markets.
Business as usual.
But I get paid. For writing.
Pretty amazing, when you think about it. The statistics regarding writers who actually make a living at it are too depressing to repeat. Anyway, most of my fellow writers are already familiar with the sad facts. I guess that's why it was such a thrill to attend a book fair like the one last weekend in Sierra Vista, AZ. High Desert Crimes Book Fair is an annual event co-sponsored by local chapters of Friends of the Library and Sisters in Crime. It featured about fifty writers of mixed genres and allowed us to meet and greet the best people in the world-- book lovers!! The fact that someone actually takes the time to stop and chat and thank you for doing what you love and what they get enjoynent from--reading--is an experience beyond measure.
Another wonderful thing happened last week. Mario's first signing. This man is a class act and if you find that he's coming to a book store near you, make it a point to get there. Mario is funny, charming, warm and a good writer to boot.
And he's getting paid to write. Still has a day job, but I predict that will soon change. Read his book and I think you'll agree!