There seem to be countless websites out here telling prospective writers that a quick way to monetize their creativity is to write about writing. Write about the business of writing and how to best navigate those obstacles.

When you have zero of the requisite knowledge about the business of writing, it is impossible to write about how to acquire said knowledge. This feels like a sick joke to weed out those among us who don’t have the stomach for the more unsavory (cheap) things we have to do to make a living at this craft.

This is, of course, if the person in question is a generalist. Specialists can cater entirely to a niche market and monetize with relative success. Unfortunately I find myself in the former category. Any specialized knowledge I possess is the kind I wouldn’t want to sell for a living, as it has to do with the career I hated but kept because it was a safe play. If the decision is safety or meaning, I choose meaning every time. Every time I make that choice, I simultaneously bolster my principals and condemn my chances at traditional measures of success.

Life is a series of choices: some simple, some complicated. Making my first priority to live a principled life makes for more complicated choices, but greater perceived satisfaction with the outcomes.