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Re: Self-employed, the lecture circuit, and conference fees
Subject:Re: Self-employed, the lecture circuit, and conference fees From:Elizabeth Ross <beth -at- vcubed -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Mon, 11 Dec 2000 09:54:32 -0500
On 12/11/00 7:56 AM, Herman Holtz wrote:
>
>>
>> I'm a writer when I write.
>> I'm a professional writer when someone pays me to write.
>>
> Elizabeth, I have been writing for enough yeras to qualify as a very
> senior citizen. I have been getting published in the press for most of that
> time. And I have earned my living as a writer for several decades. I still
> do some pro bono writing--without pay, that is--and it does not make me less
> the writer nor less the professional writer.
No, because you have been published (and therefore paid) for your efforts.
If you had not, you would be an amateur until somebody somewhere publishes
your work. Lots of professional do pro bono work--that does not make you
less of a professional. Never being paid for one's work *ever* is not being
a professional.
Amateur athletes are not paid.
Professional athletes are.
Amateur *anything* are typically not paid.
Professional *anything* typically are.
My original statement stands.
> You are a professional writer if you think of yourself as a
> professional writer
If I think of myself as a professional ballet dancer but no one wants to pay
me a thin dime to dance nor does anyone want to pay me to perform, I am
delusional.
> What others do (e.g., pay
> you or not) should have nothing to do with how you regard yourself, your
> wirk, and your position in the working world.
My vocation is what I am paid to do. My avocation is what I do for love. In
the ideal life, the two are the same. In reality, I'm darned lucky if they
overlap. I never said ANYTHING about this having to do with self-regard.
Kindly do not put words into my mouth. Thank you.
--
Elizabeth Ross
Senior Technical Writer, V3 Semiconductor Corp.
mailto: beth -at- vcubed -dot- com http://www.vcubed.com
Cogito cogito ergo cogito sum.
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