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2/5/2011 1:47:37 PM
 
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Section 18: Outdoor Writing Subject: Writing For A Living Msg# 769043
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Rereading this thread it was easy to identify me as the major naysayer Now you just hold on one minute there.
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For reference, the above message is a reply to a message where: Hi Jim! Rereading this thread it was easy to identify me as the major naysayer, and while I stand by everything I said, I didn't mean to say it was impossible either! I do think it is a lot harder to break into the magazine writing end of the business than it was 20 or 30 years ago, back when most of the guys who make a significant part of their living at it today started developing their good reputations. You and Bryce are sure right! I think it has always required hard work and dogged determination to be successful at anything and with all the college graduates flipping burgers it seems to be as tough as ever today. The people who are most successful at anything seem to be those who are able to make their job their life. I think outdoorsmen are lucky because all we have to do is make our life our job. Unfortunately, when you start making a living at something you love it has to become work or you fail at it, but most of the time I still find it better than being a drone buried up in a city cubicle! As I hope I at least implied, I believe the only way to make 100% of your living as a writer/photographer in the outdoors today is through diversity. The people I know in the business who are still making it had to spread from hook and bullet subjects into travel, birding, mountain biking, kayaking, RVing and more additional subjects related to nature and conservation than I'll be able to think up in a month. Some have written books, done public speaking and DVDs, branched out into TV and radio, taught college classes and nearly all have figured out how to put the Internet to work for them. Some things about the business are actually easier today. No more double-spaced pages on 20-pound bond and sheets of color slides to mail (or Fedex On a naysaying scale of one to ten I hope this moves me back to about a five... Allan |
). Computers are a help, even with all the time wasted updating, debugging and fighting compatibility issues. And, even I have finally gotten to the point where digital photography is faster, less trouble and less expensive than film was.