Piers Anthony Quotes

I knew I'd have to go to work in real estate or something else or I could never finish my novel.

I'm still very blunt: If you want to be a writer, get a day job. The fact that I have actually been able to make a living at it is astonishing.

On a more practical level, anyone out there who wants to be a writer should clearly recognize that this is a brutal business, where even incredibly talented people sometimes never make a living. If you want to chase such a dream, please have a Plan B in place.

No matter how much money I made from writing, I'd keep the bookstore job.

My advice for writers is to get a good day job. It takes the pressure off writing if you have a job that pays the bills.

It is indeed difficult to make a living as a writer, and my advice to anyone contemplating a literary career is to have some other trade.

I had casually rented an apartment that cost $75 a month because I expected my writing to pay my way.

I would recommend, definitely, developing a 'day job' that you like - don't expect to make money writing!

As I said, I had no publisher for What a Carve Up! while I was writing it, so all we had to live off was my wife's money and little bits I was picking up for journalism.

I think it was very important for me to look at starting to build a safety net so that I didn't feel the insecurity of the ups and downs of finances because I might do no film a year, or I might do six commercials, or I might do none.

What I really, really love is writing. If I can just write and make a really nice living out of that, why would I change that?

Sometimes people start making a change with without making sure the first the first source of income sticks.

I really think me and my family live humbly. I've secured my life, and I won't have to open the newspaper and be looking for work.

Sometimes, the money is exciting. You want to buy a house, or a car, and then you jump into it. So, there are a lot of things that come into consideration, and that's fair enough. There may or may not solely be one reason why you do films.

I had a very high opinion of my father's judgement of things and he said, "You better get a job that pays the bills because a writer doesn't make any money. If possible, get a job that allows you to write in your spare time."

My dad works for Merrill Lynch so I'm in good hands there.

I don't think spending money is a guarantee for anything.

If I end up having a novel that sells really well and that allows me to pay for health insurance and mortgage without having to work at a day job, that would be great.

A club like ours loses £8-10m every year to be competitive, and nobody wants to keep a business that is losing money every year.

I think having a back-up plan is never a bad thing. I would hate to be a male footballer and look back on 15 years of my career and think, 'Oh well, I've got a lot a money but what now?'

Television allows for survival, which is the basic issue for me. You have to decide how much money is enough. You can't get carried away with the hunt for money. But there are times it shows up, and you need to grab it, and that allows you to hunt for a better script.

In my business, you could be making money one day, and the next day you could be serving up burgers at McDonald's. So if you want to be able to stay on top of your game, you've got to keep with it.

I've always been interested in art and making things, but I chose not to go to art school because I thought I needed to do something else. Art was a tough way to make a living.

It doesn't matter how big of a company you have: I always tell people that you are one job away from being broke. And if you don't live that way, you'll be broke.

I moved to California in 2011 to be a writer. A family friend told me to take acting classes so I could do commercials and actually make a little money.