Grants, stipends, fellowships. Teaching, odd jobs, seasonal work. Of the writers I have known, none "made a living at it", but few of them stopped writing becau

Grants, stipends, fellowships. Teaching, odd jobs, seasonal work. Of the writers I have known, none "made a living at it", but few of them stopped writing because it didn't pay enough. Writing as a profession has always been a rough road, subsidised by elite patronage and government arts programs. Most commercially successful writers barely move themselves above the poverty line by the proceeds of their book sales. tl;dr It's art. It doesn't have to pay to be worth doing.