Poppy Z. Brite Quotes

I opted for a freelance writing career. I was lucky enough to have the means to do it.

When I first quit my day job, I was terrified. I called my editors and said I'm trying to make a go of this, and they threw every contract at me they could. And for two years, I had a book or an anthology out every month.

I really think it is possible to make a very nice living by writing and not worrying about anything else.

I always feel freelance writers are leading a heroic life. I think that is the real writer's life. On the other hand, it's good to have another job. It gives you something to do.

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.

If you are afraid to fail, then you should go and become a banker.

I'm fortunate in having journalism as a sideline to pay the bills, and I essentially do it in order to take as long as I want with books.

Writing was something I always liked, but it wasn't a career until I was laid off from my executive position in my 30s. I started a website because I was bored, unemployed and angry.

Zombie books were going to be my passion projects, but certainly not pay the bills. I thought I was going to have to get a real job on a sitcom or something, and have my zombie books to remind myself I was still a writer at heart. I never thought I could actually pay my bills and write what I wanted.

Life is just a set of experiences. As long as there are new experiences for me in a corporate job, I don't think I have to be an entrepreneur.

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

If I can make a living as a writer, I can do anything.

Once 'Walk Two Moons' received the Newbery Medal, I decided to write full-time. Partly because there seemed to be an audience out there who wanted to read what I wanted to write, and partly because I could now support myself financially through writing.

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.

I've devoted a lot of my time and effort during the past few years to developing my advertising copywriting business to the point of where I can support my family and don't have to depend on writing fiction for my income.

I thought, if I went into business I'd be able to control my own destiny.

I am in the position where I don't have to work for the sake of working, so I'm very lucky, in a sense. So, I can always sit back and wait for a project that I respond to, that I want to do.

I like the writing life, but it's not something that always makes enough money.

Because modeling is lucrative, I'm able to save up and be more particular about the acting roles I take.

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

My dad took on every job he could get. He worked like mad. But then, at some point, he had saved up enough to open his first pub.

If writers were good businessmen, they'd have too much sense to be writers.

Working as a model liberated me from ever having to hold a day job. I transitioned from doing that to working full-time as an artist. If you're 19 and living cheap, being an artist model can sustain you.

I am lucky enough not to have to take jobs unless I love the material.

My father set up his first business in the 1970s so that he could support his family.