[MonkeyScribe]

Regardless of where you stand, this is a useful conversation to have. There is a lot of ground between Patterson's "hire an intern to type 80,000 words, throw my name on it, buy another yacht" method and the guy who lives in his mother's attic and writes an absurdist short story every twenty-seven months on a roll of toilet paper and then mails it to the New Yorker one sheet at a time.

I used to get frustrated at this woman in my writing group a number of years ago. I was struggling to sell anything for more than a penny a word and every story she wrote ended up on the Nebula preliminary ballot. Thing is she only wrote a story every couple of years and had told several editors that no, she was not writing a book, and had no plans to ever do so. It seemed like such a waste of talent.

I eventually realized that different people have different motives for writing.

 

[MonkeyScribe]

I feel the same way. I tried to take Locke's approach, but I honestly can't see what pleasure he might derive from churning that product out. Money is nice, but that motivator can only last for so long. He doesn't strike me as a real writer. I don't see any sign that he writes anything he feels the need to say.

After so many years of earning nothing, the thought of using writing as a way to strike it rich seems about as silly as going to Alaska to prospect for gold. Sure, I might find the mother lode--some people do--but my real motivation for sitting out there every day swishing around my pan is because I love the outdoors and the independence.