Jason Pargin and the Reality of the Writing Life

My FaceBook feed now sends me everything that Jason Pargin posts. He is pretty interesting.

I like this one: https://www.facebook.com/reel/866042226032381

If you think you are going to make money writing independently, it's a reality check.

Many of the famous writers of the past either:

1. were independent wealthy

2. were married to a wealthy person (Hemingway, I'm talking about you) or dependent on family

3. lived in penury

4. died young (Brontes, Austen)

4. had a day job

A very minor percentage, or percentage of a percentage, made a living at it. Today that is even more impossible. Someone like Dickens wrote installments for magazines and made it work for him, but he made real money (as did Twain) on the lyceum or lecture circuit.

Pargin makes a case for how the "day job" actually makes one a better writer, anyway.

Comments

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