Australian editor, writer, and reviewer David McDonald is running a series on his blog called ‘Paying for Our Passion’. The issue is a salient one: the sacrifices authors make in the current economic in order to be able to write. He’s got a long list of well-known Australian authors to contribute their thoughts and experiences on the matter, and it makes for fascinating reading. David kicked off this series with this interesting article about the illusions many writers start out with, and compares it to the stark reality of grinding out a living in a profession that rarely pays.
David asked me to make a contribution, and I did so happily. My full article for his blog series is here. Go and check it out.
As a taster, the opening para of my article:
“The article David links to in his initial piece that heralds the start of this series, sponsored, needs mentioning at the outset. The author – Ann Bauer – makes the crucial point that her writing life is, in part, sponsored by a husband who works full time. She points out that there are a lot of authors out there who get to devote themselves to writing full time not via their earnings, but through the wealth they were born (or married) into. Sobering stuff.
In a sense I am sponsored. My wife works, I write; she pays the bills and puts food on the table, I write science fiction. How awesome is feminism?!
But it’s not quite that simple.”
