Tony Bradman Quotes

For almost anyone who chooses to be a writer, since so very few writers are able to learn a living from their work that is equivalent to the living earned by the average dentist or accountant.

Creative writing programmes are not very necessary. They just exist so that people like us can make a living.

As a middle-aged woman who has had some luck as a writer, I'd like this profession of author to remain a possibility for young writers in the future - and not become an arena solely for the hobbyist or the well-heeled.

The only sensible ends of literature are, first, the pleasurable toil of writing; second, the gratification of one's family and friends; and lastly, the solid cash.

I've been a writer for 42 years and, yes, it is a full time job for me. Not a hobby, but serious work.

At this stage, my chief professional goal is simply to keep on writing and making a living at it.

Many writers can't make a living. So to be able to teach how to write is valuable to them. But I don't really know about its value to the student. I don't mean it's useless. But I wouldn't have wanted anyone to teach me how to write.

But whatever my failure, I have this thing to remember - that I was a pioneer in my profession, just as my grandfathers were in theirs, in that I was the first man in this section to earn his living as a writer.

I tell young people who ask me about a future in writing not to go into it unless they get married to someone rich.

My aunt could never understand how writing could be a full-time job. She'd keep asking when I'd get a real job!

Parents, it seems, have an almost Olympian persistence when it comes to suggesting more secure and lucrative lines of work for their children who have the notion that writing is an actual profession. I say this from experience.

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.

I've been writing full-time since I was 23.

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.

I don't think I knew that you could be a novelist. I think a lot of my students are in the same condition. I thought it was unreachable, that it was sort of dead people. It took me a long time - I think I was well into novel writing before I really thought, 'Actually, this is a valid pastime.'

If I didn't write, I'd be like a duvet cover; I have no other marketable skills. Clearly I'm not meant to do anything else.

I didn't want to write for pay. I wanted to be paid for what I write.

The only real reason to write professionally is that you love it enough.

I may not have become a good writer, but I managed to make a living out of writing.

If you become a creative writer with the idea that you are going to make a whole lot of money, then maybe this isn't the best choice for you.

I wasn't one of those kids who grew up wanting to write or who read a particular book and thought: 'I want to do that!' I always told stories and wrote them down, but I never thought writing was a career path, even though, clearly, someone was writing the books and newspapers and magazines.

It troubles me that people speak about writing for money as ugly and distasteful.

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

I always loved writing, but never considered that I could do it professionally.

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.