This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Brigid Kemmerer, a New York Times bestselling author of young-adult and romantasy novels. Kemmerer, based in Baltimore and now 48 years old, has worked as a full-time author for the past 10 years and has published at least two dozen books. The essay has been edited for length and clarity.
I’ve wanted to be a writer since I was 12, when a librarian I knew published her first young-adult novel.
Until then, authors might as well have been movie stars. Seeing a real person become one made writing feel like a possible career.
I started working in finance at 19 and eventually became a licensed stockbroker. After selling my first novel in 2011, I continued working my day job while raising three children and writing whenever I could.
I wrote early in the morning, late at night, and during my lunch hour. In 2016, I finally sold the book that allowed me to leave finance. Becoming a full-time author took years, and my income is now supporting my entire family.
I treated writing like a second job
I always wanted to be a writer, but I never really thought of it as a full-time job.
In my 20s, I worked in finance, and I was a licensed stockbroker. I loved my coworkers, and I liked having a consistent salary.
I sold my first novel in 2011, but publishing is not a get-rich-quick scheme. I used my first advance payment to fix our leaky roof and buy a cheap children’s playset from Costco.
For years, my schedule was insane.
I would wake up at 5 a.m. and try to get some words down over coffee before the kids woke up. Then I changed diapers, got everybody dressed, packed their day care bags, dropped them off, and commuted 40 minutes.
Sometimes, I wrote during my lunch hour. I had an ancient, janky laptop that wouldn’t work unless it was plugged in, until my husband bought me a MacBook, even though we didn’t have MacBook money.
After work, we picked up the kids and made dinner. If I wanted to get words written, I needed to leave the house. I would go to the library or Starbucks and treat writing like a part-time job.
My husband was hands-on with our toddler and newborn while I wrote. Knowing what he was handling at home motivated me to get the words down.
One book allowed me to quit finance
By the end of 2015, I was working full-time, raising three kids, and preparing to publish my sixth book.
I tearfully told my husband that I felt like I was working two full-time jobs. I worried that I would wake up one day to find my kids were 18, and I would have spent their entire childhoods working.
He asked when I had last written something purely because it was fun. I pulled out an old book that had previously been rejected and rewrote the first 75 pages.
That book was “A Curse So Dark and Lonely.” It became my biggest deal at the time and my first book to hit The New York Times bestseller list. It gave us enough money for me to quit my day job.
Not everyone took my writing seriously. People would ask, “Are you still doing that little writer thing?” Others asked whether I was ever going to write a “real book.”
A manager once openly mocked me in a meeting for writing romance. At the time, I was writing young adult. I became more closed-lipped about my work after that.
When I decided to leave, I planned to give eight weeks’ notice because I loved my team and didn’t want to let them down. Another manager pulled me aside and told me to give two.
“You’ve earned the chance to change careers,” he said.
Giving up corporate security can be scary
My husband works in IT and was laid off about two months ago as a direct result of AI being introduced at his workplace. We had been covered by his health insurance. Now my author income is paying for our family’s coverage.
We are temporarily on COBRA. For a family of five, coverage runs between $2,000 and $2,500 a month. Losing his salary while taking on that expense is a huge financial swing.
It isn’t the first time this has happened. We once went without insurance for a few months. One of my kids developed strep throat, and I had to pay cash, and I was terrified.
Another year, our deductible was so high that after injuring my shoulder, I considered extending a trip to Paris and paying cash for an MRI there.
Still, we weather everything as a team. We are very lucky that my writing income can support our family right now. I am hoping we can continue as we have been.
I’ve now been a full-time author for 10 years. I love the creative freedom, but giving up a consistent salary and corporate benefits can still be scary.
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