This is undoubtedly an interesting idea. I note though that it doesn’t apply to my craft (that of poetry), can you hear my deep sigh?!
While I can see advantages to such a scheme (namely allowing writers to hone their craft on a full-time basis and produce great literature), having a job (other than writing) arguably does furnish the author/poet with a broader perspective on the world. Philip Larkin was a librarian while Sir Walter Ralegh engaged in diplomacy, exploring and twiddling his thumbs in the Tower of London prior to an unfortunate appointment with a very sharp implement! The poetry of both men arguably benefited from their day jobs. If, however anyone wants to pay me a good wage to compose poetry full-time I’m certainly not going to look a gift horse in the mouth …
Sometimes your internet life and your real life meet in the most unlikely ways.
For an Instagram star, this might be when they get caught for Photoshopping in a sponsored tan, and out a dimpled arse.
On Facebook, it might be when you’re tagged in a photograph on the night you swore to your soon-to-be-ex best friend you were not going out.
On Snapchat, it…. Oh, who cares? It’s Snapchat.
My two lives collided briefly this week when I read an article in the Guardian about a publisher which is going to pay writers a salary to give up all other paid employment and write full-time.
Apparently, this publisher reckons that writers can’t get really good at it, unless they can do it without the distraction of having to earn money elsewhere. The Guardian says:
De Montfort Literature, a new publishing company that is part of London hedge fund De Montfort Capital…
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K Morris - Poet 