Back in 2009, I was laid off from my 10 year job in the oil/gas industry. I disliked working in O&G and looked at the lay-off as my opportunity to start anew.


After 22 mths of being unemployed, I took a job as a tech writer in the water/wastewater industry. I enjoyed that job and the type of writing it allowed me to do (more creative/journalistic) but the pay was so much less than I was accustomed to. I have another mouth to feed so I found it hard to survive off of such little pay. Therefore, I made the difficult decision to take another job in (you guessed it) O&G.


I'm only 3 mths in at this job and I so dislike it. I can't stand my manager and all the corporate BS that comes w/working in O&G.


I want to make a change to a different industry, doing writing that'll allow me to use and stretch my creative muscle as a writer. But I truly don't feel I'd make the type of money I need to survive on -- not in Houston anyway since this is an O&G town.


Does anyone have any advice on what I should do?

To Ivy1908: have you tried other towns here in Texas other than Houston? What about Austin or Dallas/Ft.Worth? I'm sure you could find something in these cities!