Advice for new writers: Live somewhere cheap
patrickrothfuss.com
Advice for new writers: Live somewhere cheap
1–10 of 25 posts
Re: Advice for new writers: Live somewhere cheap
#2If you don't feel like living in "the pit," you could just get a full time job that isn't all-consuming. Working an hour or two a night, finishing a first draft of a book only takes a few months. You should then end up spending six months to a year or more revising, especially if you're waiting for readers to get back to you.
For most people the challenge isn't money or time, it's sticking with the project for the year (sometimes several) it takes to produce a manuscript worth submitting.
Re: Advice for new writers: Live somewhere cheap
#3I'd narrow it down a bit—live in a cheap part of Brooklyn so you can actually meet your agent face to face because they almost invariably live in Manhattan. Even better, live in an artist warehouse in Bushwick so you have other people around to inspire you. Then again, it's all about what works for you.
Re: Advice for new writers: Live somewhere cheap
#4This is a special case of the general advice that keeping your expenses low allows you to spend your time on activities that don't have to (immediately) make you money. This is actually one of the main ideas in the Y Combinator system, isn't it (ramen profitability, work at home, etc)?
Re: Advice for new writers: Live somewhere cheap
#5This is a special case of the general advice that keeping your expenses low allows you to spend your time on activities that don't have to (immediately) make you money. This is actually one of the main ideas in the Y Combinator system, isn't it (ramen profitability, work at home, etc)?
Yes, this is very similar to the advice Paul Graham gives when talking about "ramen profitability", because it takes time for people to create things of value - whether it's a startup or the next great Harry Potter story. In fact J.K. Rowling talked about her mad rush to just finish the first Potter book before returning to full time employment as a teacher, when there would be no time to write. It's interesting to me the people who tend to create the higher value things, artists in one form or another, are usually fairly poor. Not sure how many rich people create new things of value, or maybe it's just because there are disproportionately more poor people than wealthy people.
Re: Advice for new writers: Live somewhere cheap
#6Speaking of Patrick Rothfuss: he's an new author and his book Name of the Wind is amazing. If you enjoy fantasy and can get past the (overwrought and somewhat preening "Hah hah I am a Real Writer Now") first chapter, I highly, highly recommend it. It is my favorite book I've bought on my Kindle yet.
Re: Advice for new writers: Live somewhere cheap
#7If you don't feel like living in "the pit," you could just get a full time job that isn't all-consuming. Working an hour or two a night, finishing a first draft of a book only takes a few months. You should then end up spending six months to a year or more revising, especially if you're waiting for readers to get back to you. For most people the challenge isn't money or time, it's sticking with the project for the ye…
This applies to product development, too. As 37signals demonstrated, it's not impossible to build a full SaaS product on 10 hours a week: http://37signals.com/svn/posts/1605-ask-37signals-how-many-h...
Of course they were lucky on a number of counts for that to actually work out, but really, the big thing they got right was probably motivation. When you're already making a steady income, the push to ship something you've been building on the side is nowhere near the push to ship something that's your full-time gig.
Re: Advice for new writers: Live somewhere cheap
#8I moved into my mom's basement.
She got a job elsewhere and she needed someone to take care of her house, which is paid for, and her pets and some farm animals. So I quit my job and moved back to my hometown.
It is actually working out really well. I'm living here super cheap, I make enough money coding, and I can focus on my writing.
I call myself a full-time writer now, since I'm writing about 5-9 hours a day.
Even though I am living really frugally, this is one of the best times of my life.
Re: Advice for new writers: Live somewhere cheap
#9Ah, the typical and noble starving artist, who sacrifices material well-being in order to focus on its artwork.
Re: Advice for new writers: Live somewhere cheap
#10Ah, the typical and noble starving artist, who sacrifices material well-being in order to focus on its artwork.
Yes. You seem to have a problem with that?