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Originally Posted by SonikJesus

How'd you get into it? Any advice? It doesn't have to be creative writing just something in that field maybe even editing or whatever. I actually like writing and I find it fairly easy and seeing as I have a history degree, which is basically a writing degree, I figure I could do something in that field. much love.

if you want full-time pro, ask gmku. he's writer AND editor.

i've had a writing sideline and i left it to pursue other stuff but this is how it was:

i used to hang around a popular blog and commenting often. apparently it was good and people kept telling me they wish i'd write there. so when they were hiring i applied and got a job there.

they paid something like $150-$200 per article. it was specialized subject matter.

i kept that going for a year but dropped it because i didn't want to focus on the subject. my interest was amateur but i didn't want to really become a pro on the subject matter. i could crank a nice article overnight but it would take days of my mental real estate. so while the labor of writing was pretty easy, the incubation process took long. i'd mull ideas over for a long time.

it seems to me that to write non-fiction stuff you become a subject matter expert-- the more you do it the more authority you have. it's like a journalist with a beat-- you cover your beat & the longer you cover it the more you know about it, the more you know the better your work & better paid gigs you get, etc. it snowballs.

the thing with me, i like learning stuff but i don't like overspecialization. i get bored shitless with endless "practice". i wanna learn something new once i know enough of a subject. overspecialization pays though! in a big economy like ours, the division of labor rewards specialists. i'm a voluntary dropout however so adiós to that.

if you have expertise on something, can be anything really, start a blog and learn to monetize it.

another avenue for side gigs could be self-publishing on amazon. most people get nothing but every now and then there's a success story.

but if you want a real job then gmku is da man.