SF author John Scalzi has posted a nifty blog entry on financial advice for writers.
“The full-time writing life isn’t about writing full-time; it’s about a full-time quest to get paid for your writing, both in selling the work, and then (alas) in collecting what you are owed. It’s not romantic; it’s a pain in the ass.”
Well worth a read. Check it out. I’ve already been living by several of those tenets, notably #6: “Don’t have the cash for it? You can’t have it.”
I will, however, take exception to #8: “Unless you have a truly compelling reason to be there, get the hell out of New York/LA/San Francisco.” Yeah, the financial reasons make sense, housing-wise….but he fails to take into account a couple of things: one, the sheer number of really interesting cultural things that you can do for free in those cities, which does cut down on your expenses. Two, you don’t need a car (at least in NYC), which we all know is a major cash-sink…..and three, the fact that I’m pretty sure that I’ll go fucking apeshit if I have to stay in the Midwest. (Well, OK — I couldn’t expect him to know that. But still!)