Hacker News Reader

Nobody has a reasonable shot at making their living writing, including the most talented writers. You do it for other reasons and find ways to sustain yourself on the side.

If you've managed to put off your dream for five years, then you need to ask yourself whether this is really your life's goal.

View on HN

There are inarguably a lot of people in the world who _do_ make their living as writers, so I think it comes down to your definition of 'reasonable'.

Re asking myself difficult questions, I think that's a fair point, and it's something I think about every day. Each time the answer is 'yes', though :-)

Many thousands of people make their living as opera singers, sculptors, and professional athletes. But they represent a tiny minority of the very talented people who aspire to do this and fail. There's a similar dynamic in writing.

Note that I am not saying "do not try to be a writer". Just don't expect to be able to make your living that way.

I call bullshit on this. Do you know how many fields exist for aspiring writers? It's not all people writing novel manuscripts. If you total up all the people making a living with words, you've got a pretty impressive sum.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com