A Writer's Worth

Discussing a poet in my creative writing class on Friday, the teacher mentioned the poet, a friend of his, once said his poetry book sales barely generated enough revenue to pay for a six pack of beer. He was a beautiful writer--like so many other talented poets and writers, but all of them had to supplement their income by working other jobs to pay the bills.

I got to thinking about true talent and high salaries: are the two mutually exclusive? It's discouraging that so many phenomenally talented writers and artists die penniless and unknown. There are freelance writers out there who couldn't get a bank loan or qualify for any sort of financing if their lives depended on it. They can't list on their applications that their credit is their character of a swashbuckling pirate that women fantasize about; or a demonic terrifying dentist that makes us think twice before scheduling a cleaning.

Stories and books written hundreds of years ago, books we all study and enjoy today, were written by the most brilliant creative forces of our time. Yet many of them could barely afford to buy food; famous artists, whose works grace the walls of prestigious museums to this day, were not acknowledged until they died dreary deaths, either by suicide or laudanum overdoses.

Shouldn't writers or artist be paid more? After all, writers create characters who live in our minds and hearts forever; they fashion immortal princesses and silky lethal heroes of which inspire nightmares and fantasies that take us out of our humdrum and sometimes depressing lives. A certain painting can cause us to weep with joy, reaching in and finding the core of our humanity.

Yes, a lot of writers and artists become wealthy, but the number of those that get lucky and have their books made into million-dollar movies, and the writers who are just as talented but struggle to pay their rent is lower. Maybe it's partly luck, but perhaps it's also the shrewd ability to know what will sell and what won't.

But, like my professor says, If you want to be a writer because of the money, you'll never make it. You don't do it for the possibility of fame or riches; you do it because you have to. There's no other choice; there's nothing else you can imagine doing.