Quote:
Originally Posted by wodin
There is an old adage among musicians; "Don't quit your day job!" that would seem apropos to Mr. Moore.
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It is. Some of my friends used to be in a band called the Don't Quit Your Day Job Players. All were writers, but the lead singer/guitarist was a software QA guy and reform rabbi, the violist/violinist/vocalist was a teacher, classical musician, and orthodox Catholic priest (and married to the rabbi), and the other guitarist/vocalist was an adjunct music professor and composer. The percussionist/vocalist was the only full time writer, but his wife had a day job, and her income smoothed out the peaks and valleys while he waited for contracts to be signed/advances to be paid/royalties to be disbursed.
I know two people these days who are full time freelance writers, and a number more who are published authors for whom writing is a
second job.
The late SF writer James Blish didn't go full time freelance till his income from royalties on published books equaled the salary he made as a publicist. SF writer Glen Cook asked his agent some years back "Can you guarantee the money will be there when I need to pay the mortgage, or write a check for the kid's college tuition?" The agent thought for a moment, and said "No", so Cook decided it wasn't time to quit as an auto worker for General Motors,l even though they had closed the plant he worked in, and transferred him to a different facility a lat farther away, in a new position that didn't let him put his hands on automatic while his mind worked on plotting the next book. (He subsequently accepted an early retirement buyout form GM, and is full time freelance these days.)
It's possible to make a living as a writer, but you shouldn't assume you'll be able to, and keeping the day job is the best move.
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Dennis