Hey, you! I want to be a full-time writer. Please give generously

There’s a lot of talk at the moment about earnings in the arts – or to be precise, the lack of them. This article from The Guardian is particularly whiny. It literally does depict an author in his garret. If it weren’t for electricity, you might imagine him setting his fingerless gloves on fire whilst trying to light his candle stubs.

Apparently, we are supposed to be sorry for the literary fiction writer who wants to write full-time, but can’t make a living from writing alone. Now, I had a mild dig at this before – but I’m in a different mood today.*

There are 3 types of writerly whinging, coming from both published and unpublished authors, and 2 of them need to be outlawed immediately. (When I am President of the World, it will be my second directive; right after I institute compulsory halitosis…