Hello, @jayna. I think I'll keep this post on my computer, because here you make reflections and give important information for many people who (and this is my case) would like to make a living writing. In my case, I followed studies of Education in Language and Literature, I specialized in Literary Theory and Latin American Literature, but, in my country, writing fiction (that a center of light of my life) is not something in which you work and receive a salary, but that (and there is a long and, it seems to me, not healthy tradition) you give, you donate, they ask you... And, in general, all literary work seems to be covered by a veil (quite prudish) of denial around what is seen as the mercantilism of art. That's why I like Steemit very much, because I would like to write and be paid to do so. In fact, one of the first images that formed in my mind when I approached Steemit is that of a large bookstore, where writers exhibit their texts and readers pay for them if they like them. Due to the economic circumstances of currency devaluation in my country, the steem has some value and may represent a small remuneration. But, as I tell you, from here it is not only an economic network, but also a cultural network of "pride and prejudice".
I still cherish the dream of being able to earn a salary by writing, above all to eliminate the feeling that all the hours I invest in writing (especially in fiction) are hours that I steal from activities that put food on the table. It seems that in Spanish, which is my mother tongue, achieving it is more difficult, from Latin America it is a feat and what can I say from this basement that Venezuela has become?
But I don't stop writing, simply, because it would be like dying.
A hug!
Thank you for this space, Mini Writing Workshop, it's becoming more and more interesting.