Dirtbag Writer

The Beginning: Wandering, Nomading, Vagablogging…

Posted on 16. Jul, 2009 by Writer in On Writing

Welcome to Dirtbag Writer!  Dirtbag dreamer may have been a more adequate name for this blog – definitely more of a dreamer than a writer at this point. Goals are definitely not unique to me – give up the grind of the 9-5 for a more creative, artistic existence – quit my job, live the dream, yada yada. The desire to create, inspire, and share is growing stronger every moment. That desire to stop and listen to the stories, to create pieces that inspire, and to get out and explore rather than read about the lives of those doing it.

Why am I writing this blog?

I really wonder if the world needs another ‘I quit my job to be a writer’ type website.  The web is packed with sites of people chronicling their journey from corporate existence to a wandering, vagabonding, self-made digital nomad.   But in searching the net for advice, how-to guides, and job leads – I became completely overwhelmed.  It seems like everyone is a “writer” these days but I am not really sure how all these people are doing it.  Where are they publishing?  Are they making enough money to live off of or are they relying on savings or trust funds?  Are they taking on part-time work to foot their bills?  How do you get gigs without a wonderfully filled portfolio?  How do you bust into the travel guide market?  What about health insurance?  Stress!

I want to take the freelance writer’s blog to the next level and detail the total process including but not limited to the following:

• Where to start.
• Writing query letters (perhaps even share some samples).
• Internship or Graduate School? How to get experience.
• Writing conferences, networking, and marketing the self.
• How to find paid writing gigs.
• How to make some cash while waiting for the freelancing to take off (probably waiting tables).
• Supreme-o cheap-o living beta – simplify, simplify, simplify…
• All the dreams, fears, loneliness, and ‘why did I give up a stability and a paycheck?’ freak-outs.

The Plan

On September 1, 2009 I am leaving a pretty darned good job (amazing benefits, dental insurance, retirement, etc.) and heading off to Colorado for 3 months to begin an internship (unpaid) to hopefully learn the ins and outs of magazine publishing.  I am going to dedicate myself to writing full-time – something I have been dabbling in for a few years now.  I have been contemplating quitting the job for awhile now so I have saved up some cash and seriously minimized my expenses.  The next few months will require me to live fairly simply – I am not talking about giving up a night at the bar but more like living in my tent and subsisting off of beans and rice for a bit… all in the name of some dream.

It is necessary to write, if the days are not to slip emptily by.  How else, indeed, to clap the net over the butterfly of the moment?  For the moment passes, it is forgotten; the mood is gone; life itself is gone.  That is where the writer scores over his fellows:  he catches the changes of his mind on the hop.

~Vita Sackville-West

Tags: Plans, Preparation