Can writing be my job?
—journal entry. 14 october 2024. pre-bunker abode.
I called my Mom to tell her I wanted to find a job to keep me "occupied" for the rest of this year. That's before they ship me to some 10 months or so of ‘slavery’ in Nigerian Law School next year. She made a small laugh on the phone and said that it was a good thing but, the way the laugh bounced off into my ears, with that hint of pride, like she had become the recipient of another little reminder, that her boy is a man …1
Well, this is not another holiday. This is my life.
And I don’t want too much from it these few months.
I just want a teaching job in a posh private secondary school, where the kids speak crisp English, and where I can be Mr. Keating (from the movie Dead Poet's Society) for three months.2
Literature would be my forte — just like Mr. Keating. Government and Civic Education make perfect choices with my legal training. I don't want to teach English because I hate the rules and I love to break them in my leisure.
Let me go on a litany of my wrongs:
writing my stories in all-lowercase
starting sentences with "and”, “but”, “so"
swapping out the word, and, for the ampersand (&)
and even swapping out the letter 'l' for the forward-slash on my WhatsApp status.
I only want to be a good example to the kids. I would be comfortable with "today, we'll discuss figures of speech" because If you gutted me (sorry, if that’s too gross), you’d see that I am made up of apostrophe, metaphors and the like …
Because if I was teaching English, and my “Principal” saw my status, the flagrant disregard for the sacred rules of the “colonial master’s” tongue so proudly displayed, they'd fire me the next morning.3
And there's why I hate jobs: the don't-do-that-sh*t-or-they-may-sack-you sh*t.
It just feels awful that a guy in some office could decide at the drop of a pen, how many bottles of Nutri-Milk I could have a month, whether I would take any of those girls for an eat-out, whether I would have to rely on midnight bonus to watch YouTube. Not like I …
And so when I think about this, I feel really bent on finding a way to use my writing to pay all my bills. So I can do what I really love. So my Mom doesn't force me to work in one of her lawyer friends’ office, drafting agreements in arcane grammar.
If writing was funding my OPay, I'd 100X my devotion. My obsession levels will not just skyrocket, it would be tearing past Uranus at twice the speed of light!
I won't be thinking about an essay, fleshing it out and all, one moment, and “oh, this data sub go soon expire, sh*t” the next; since it’s bringing money, the focus would be insane.
Simply put, I want to be the best writer of this century. But the economics has to be right4 because I don't want to be bohemian too.
You feel me?
—end of entry
And I am leaving this little note for people who think'/say stuff like “selling out” when it comes to writers and monetizing writing …
Nothing makes more sense than that an artist’s art should feed him, clothe him and settle his weekly Nutri-Milk needs. Every artist runs on something. For some, it’s pills or something they smoke. For some, it’s music, or Nutri-Milk or both.
I pay Spotify so that I can hear Lamar discussing race and colorism while a jazzy trumpet solo covers his vocals like a lover’s sensual embrace. Cows, also, are not bred by charitable organizations.
Doing art — to do it consistently, to do it better — takes money. And the last time I checked (I looked outside ~ 12 secs ago), trees only grow leaves.
If you’re the type that frowns when money and writing is said together in one sentence, there is a problem. Or at least one of two:
You think this writing is not valuable
You don’t have enough to give.
Yeah.
It’s either, “I no get” or “this is not something I’d spend money on”.
I respect the former. It’s a “if I been get …”
Country hard. Man understands.
But I totally despise the latter. Not out of an overinflated sense of importance, because I value that you already make an investment of time …
But that if you love it enough to read it for free, if it has time-value which is actually your most-precious resource, why can’t you pay for it?
Till next time,
With love & ink,
Emmanuel
This journal entry has been edited for this letter.
Here, a schoolteacher influences his students to be non-conformist, creative and see the world with new eyes. I am recommending this one strongly.
Not intended that way, but I just remembered Mr. Keating was also sacked. Damn.
… with the psychology? Am I writing a piece on a field of fiscal theory within psychology, about how money affects decision-making, goals and career choices, lol
It's funny how I share most of the sentiments here. I still fantasized today about becoming a teacher, just for a short while, maybe 6 months. For the plot. But strangely enough, I've never considered writing as a source of income. Always assumed I'll sell my soul to the capitalism machine, while publishing books under a pseudonym, just because I can