Nothing — yes, I am very fortunate that way, but money doesn’t mean there aren’t distractions — there are tons of distractions (and before my marriage I was broke, carrying student debt and working fulltime). You’re always giving something up — usually with me it’s my social life and TV. What money *has* allowed me to do is to continue to write when I have five small children, and I am grateful for that.

TV eats up so much time. If you really want to read and write, throw it out.

Dottywine — you’re wise — and brave — to do that! All the best with it!

And finally, just to clarify — it was my understanding that Morgante is a teenager, hence my comment about her age. It was an edgy comment, but it actually wasn’t meant as an insult.

But I have the same problem as Snake, I don’t want to revise all of my writing. Maybe I am not all about writing, but about ideas-vomiting.

Should give it some thoughts.

And to morgante, I believe you’ve misinterpreted the idea of art. you seem to use the word “artistry” as an insult, whereas the use of language as a means of expression can be considered art in itself. You might mean “mathematical” although I still fail to see a precise connection.

There’s a famous writerly anecdote of how Scott Turow wrote on the train — 20 min back and forth from his 70 hr/week job in a law office — he composed a novel that way, PRESUMED INNOCENT (really, really good), which sold huge and pretty much invented the whole legal-thriller genre.

We live in a culture that loves the big jumps forward, the overnight success, the instant fortune, etc. But in truth it’s more like small steps forward every day. Do just a bit every day, improve just a little bit every day, the key emphasis being “every day”. Entire empires are created (and conquered) that way.

Good for me to remind myself of that, it’s a point that bears repeating.

Oh — and to answer your question about school — I’m, uh, not really a role model for that. I excelled in the handful of subjects I really liked (thanks to all the reading & writing I did on my own & the skills & critical thinking it gave me) and rebelled, skipped classes and got average-to-low grades in everything else. I still managed to win a scholarship to a great university because I was the kind of “specialist” they were looking for at the time (my writing saved me, basically), but that was luck, and I regret now my lack of math/science background…Education in general (no matter how you get it) feeds into your education as a writer — it’s important to have something to say, as well as knowing how to say it.

Okay, end of preaching! This has been fun.