And while we are on doom and gloom-- where does the idea that writers are rich come from? 2Blowhards sent me to Conversational Reading's post on Writing and Money that has some true and funny things to say on the subject.
"They had their names on the cover of a book, thus they were wealthy.
"Even more strangely, this idea persists right up to this day, when I know much better than to expect that even 1% of all published authors can scrape together any kind of a living off their work. Of course, as Dan Green points out, the idea of the wealthy novelist is complete bunk. In fact, poverty is such a fact of a writer's life that it's hardly even worth noting".
For any readers who do not know me: in the current state of writing, I make so little I could not exist in a more expensive environment than Magdalena, and even here, we need Libby's job and drive vehicles more than ten years old (one is almost 20).
And it's universal. I know all of TWO rich writers who weren't born that way.
1 comment:
I wonder if they are the same two I know? Two archaeologists that are friends of mine, Mike and Kathy Gear, turned to fiction and did well. I had dinner with Mike in Salt Lake City at the SAA meetings last spring and the poor guys are bound with "chains of gold", busy with book tours and not able to write the books they want.
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