Money Talk: Miel Moreland on the Financial Rules She Never Breaks

Money Girl Laura Adams: When did you decide that you wanted to become an author (or other career)?

Miel Moreland: I knew I wanted to write books from a very young age, five or six at the latest. I committed to it in a serious way when I was about sixteen.

MG: Do you write full-time?

MM: I do not write full-time! I have a full-time administrative position at a university. I make more money from that job than from writing—and my job also comes with paid time off, employer-sponsored health insurance, and other benefits. It can be tricky to balance, time-wise, but the stability afforded to me by having a day job means I’m less anxious about my writing, because I’m not counting on writing books quickly in order to be able to pay rent. Since I’m both a slow writer and someone with anxiety, it’s much better to have this pressure taken off.

MG: Did you study writing (or something else) or has it always come naturally to you?

MM: I did not study writing—I was a double English/Politics major in college, but the English program at my school was focused on literature. I only took one creative writing class in college, and that was a mixture of poetry, fiction, and creative non-fiction. Writing comes naturally in the sense that the love for writing comes naturally, but the skill requires significant and ongoing practice, and of course lots of revision. I read a lot (or, at least I thought I read a lot until I realized how much bloggers read!), and I’m always trying to learn from other writers.

MG: When you first started writing (or something else), were there any financial challenges? If so, how did you manage them?

MM: When I first started writing It Goes Like This, I’d just finished my teaching assistant contract in France and was back in the United States, living with my parents while I applied to jobs. Ultimately, during the year in which I wrote, revised, and queried It Goes Like This, I had a constantly changing job situation, while simultaneously applying to grad school: unemployed, working more than full time, working part-time... If I hadn’t been living at home, I wouldn’t have been able to write during periods of unemployment and part-time work—because it would have been urgent for me to work more. Instead, because much of the money I earned that year went into savings for my move to the East Coast, I was able to make the choice to work less and write more at certain times.

MG: What advice would you give someone who's creative or wants to change their lifestyle about balancing passion for their art and earning an income...

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