James Blaylock Quotes

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

I don't teach writing classes anymore, and I'm really glad I don't, because I would feel very strange about telling people, 'Go out there and be a writer, and make a living from it.'

I had a million jobs before I managed to make a living out of poetry.

The life of the professional writer - like that of any freelance, whether she be a plumber or a podiatrist - is predicated on willpower. Without it there simply wouldn't be any remuneration, period.

Unless something real cool comes along, I will probably be doing features, so long as I can make a living doing that. Otherwise, I will do another show.

Being an actor is just like being any other sort of self-employed person - we're all just happy to have a job in the first place, but we also thrive off the uncertainty of it.

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

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 think that when you decide to dedicate yourself to creative endeavors and surround yourself with people who are creative, you very quickly learn how hard it is to survive doing those kinds of things, not to mention make a living at them.

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.

Somebody's always getting me to come lecture to their writing class, and I don't talk about writing at all, I talk about the business of making a living at this racket.

As far as making a living, if plumbing earned more, I'd probably do it. At least you can leave the job at home once the tools are put away. A writer works in his mind 24/7.

To be a working writer is the holy grail, where you don't have three other jobs on top of that.

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

It's hard to live just by selling paintings.

I'm not in a situation where you get a thousand scripts. You want to make a living, you want to put your kids through school. I'd rather do three bad films that pay well than do one good film every three years that doesn't pay well. ... To me, if you can get a steady check in this business, you're doing okay.

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.

I have a teaching job that allows me to pay the rent and affords me to, frankly, write the books I want to write.

I've had a few jobs, but if you want to be a writer, you're better off getting a job that doesn't require that you do anything.

I want to do presenting, I love DJing, I love writing but none of it's a guaranteed job so it's still very scary.

I've always been an independent producer. I'd kind of like to be hired help for a change. I don't mind that.

Ultimately, I think what I want from my career is to be able to create work for myself, and there's only so much you can do as an actor in a movie.

What we get to do at TaskRabbit is create jobs. I'm excited about the opportunity that we have to what I think of is creating everyday work for everyday people.

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.