The Big Adult thing I've done so far this month is start the eternal quest to nail down my tax responsibilities. This so far has included chasing down accountants in two countries and getting my hands on an application for a National Insurance Number, which is the thing that lets you pay taxes to the English government instead of going to prison for tax evasion.
When I did the BA, there were several classes specifically for students that wanted to become writers, taught by professors that were themselves (to a certain point) writers. And between discussions of plot and point of view, students would inevitably have questions about the professional side of things. How do you get an agent? How do you get a short story published? How do you write a cover letter? The standard brush-off then was, "You don't need to know that yet."
The MA addressed our curiosity a bit more directly: One hour-long class was devoted to a cursory look at account keeping, finding an agent, that sort of thing. A copy of one of the professor's contracts, with the inappropriate bits covered up with thick black censor bars, was handed out as an example of something that we didn't need to fully understand yet. The agent and publisher meetings - there were six of them, each an hour long - were a bit more helpful, but they only went over what an agent or publisher does and how to find one. Everything after that point was a hazy terra incognita that we would find out about when we needed to know about it - the way it was phrased made it sound as if, the moment we signed a contract, we would instantaneously and magically understand everything pertinent to being a professional writer.
A month or so ago I signed my contract. I made sure my publisher bought me dinner first. It was a very nice dinner. I've never been on an actual date, so I can't compare, but if I were going to go on a date I would want it to be half as nice as that dinner. And now, unexpectedly and far younger than I was told to expect to, I have reached that 'later' that all of my professors told me that I needed to wait until before I worried about the technical stuff. Not knowing isn't going to make me not responsible for making sure the right countries get their cut on time. Which makes me wonder, did they think that if they didn't tell me how to deal with this that it would prevent me from ever needing to find out?
