I have taught at a few colleges. And always I was thinking about getting back to writing. I think that writers probably should not teach. First it gives you a paycheck. A writer who is satiated is not a good thing. Writers need to be hungry to write. They need to be driven by necessity to write. This is uncomfortably for most writers and a bit like jumping off a cliff without a parachute but that is the point. You don't want to be comfortable. You want to be angst ridden, hungry, in need of making a living from your writing.
This is not old fashioned starving artist garbage. This is simple logic. If all your time is being taken away with teaching to get the paycheck then when do you write? And what do you have left over at the end of the day. If you are teaching a few classes a day you don't have much at all. Now some writers are more teachers than writers. That is fine. You should be a teacher.
But if you are a writer first then you might as well realize you cannot do both. You must be the writer and get your money from something that wont take all your time. Of course the teachers who write and publish will say this is not true. But most writers don't publish when they become teachers. They are too busy teaching.
This is not old fashioned starving artist garbage. This is simple logic. If all your time is being taken away with teaching to get the paycheck then when do you write? And what do you have left over at the end of the day. If you are teaching a few classes a day you don't have much at all. Now some writers are more teachers than writers. That is fine. You should be a teacher.
But if you are a writer first then you might as well realize you cannot do both. You must be the writer and get your money from something that wont take all your time. Of course the teachers who write and publish will say this is not true. But most writers don't publish when they become teachers. They are too busy teaching.
