My Life As Professional Hack..I Mean, Writer

All I have to say is that....well, right now I'm putting the "work" into "Working Class Creative."

My primary source of income (when I'm not seeking social media work as a freelance consultant) is doing contract writing for an agency. (I'm going to rather discrete...no, seriously, stop giggling...because the contract outlines certain things I can and cannot discuss). As part of my day, I am regularly producing both web page and blog content focused on one specific industry...and it's an industry you normally wouldn't associate me with, but it's one that I have expertise in handling.

You would think that a New Pulp author like me would have no problem cranking out text...after all, I've spent five years blogging for Chicago Now, and I'm flexing my writing muscles enough to rebuild this blog. My writing portfolio has some really impressive entries.  I've also started on two passion projects (one has a contract, but it's a really sweet contract). I've even been running a Chicago Coworking Meetup and Freelancers Union group so that I have more opportunities to network while performing basic copy writing for a field that I may not love....but I sure as hell like a lot.

But I'm finding myself fighting off the inner voice that says, "You're not a writer, Gordon, you're a hack."

Now I don't mean "hack" in terms of my fiction - after all, I just finished my first novel as well as another novella. Cranking out almost 70,000 words of prose in just under six months is a pretty significant achievement. But writing working text - nothing emotionally engaging, or telling a fictional story - should not feel as annoying as it does. It doesn't hurt me (and hasn't stopped...