Income

I am posting a lot. It must be the end of winter's darkness.

This is off facebook, in response to a new study of income from writing:

Like most surveys of writing income, this one seems inadequate. But my own experiences, and those of my friends, suggest that there is little money in art. Most writers I know either have a day job or a spouse with a day job. Most are not making a living from writing. I have made very little from writing. It's a catch 22. I have always had to work close to full time, because my writing brought in little money. (I once told an editor that the money I got from writing was enough to keep me in SF conventions and Laura Ashley skirts.) (It certainly did not pay the rent.) The day job sucked my time and energy, making it difficult to publish enough to make a living at writing. And so it went in a circle...

I think I could have done better, if I'd had more determination and discipline and paid more attention to the business aspects of writing. But I'm not sure. I know writers who have been far more determined and practical than I am and who still saw their writing careers hit a wall. (I need to remember this when I get angry at myself for not working harder at being a writer, not paying enough attention to business, not learning to be popular...)

It's not too late. Maybe I could write a wish fulfillment epic fantasy in one month in November... But I think I'd need to turn my sense of humor off. Could I do that?