: Re: Occupational Hazards to being a Full-Time Writer Every now and again I think to myself how nice it would be to give up my staid life as a Software Developer and start an exciting new career

@Bryan361

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Your question is:

What are the occupational hazards to being a full-time writer?

But based on what you describe I would flip that and perhaps ask:

What are the occupational hazards to being a part-time software developer?

The reality is simple economics anywhere in the world: There is more of a need for—and thus more stability in—being a software developer than being a writer. Software developers develop software and that is a fairly endless need. Writers write novels and then… What else?

How many novels are needed? Seriously, I think I am well read but only have a few books in my home and many of them used.
Why would someone want a new novel from you even if you a popular writer? Okay, you are a good author but why would someone want a new book from you? I have F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby” in my home library; why should I care about his other works? I don’t and he’s popular.
How much do you believe you will be paid or a novel? Publisher advances are often impressive their own but for average schmoes they are less than a menial job.
How many of your novels might provide an income stream based on licensing for movies and or TV shows? The chances of you becoming the next J.D. Salinger and living off of the profits from the sale of just books is zilch. There is no purity to books nowadays: Any book you write on any theme nowadays will need to be structured into something that can then be licensed and sold in other mediums. If you don’t think this way, your book is just a personal project. At the end of the day it is a product. And writing a book nowadays means creating a platform; not a standalone thing.

So my advice to you is if software development is grinding you down, then fix that problem: Figure out how to minimize the impact the job you need to survive is having on your life. And then use that freed up time do what you love… Whether that love be being a writer, artist, traveller, etc…

But while being a writer might seem fun to you casually, making that fun thing into a career might just grind you down and make you into the type of writer you are not passionate about.

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