Comments

7 responses to ““Writing While Poor: Chasing the Dream You Know You Can’t Have”, Dead Darlings, July 2016”

1. 

   July 14, 2016

   Rosemary

   I think you need to read The Secret and start practicing positive thinking. If you mean what you wrote you will reap exactly what you are putting out to the Universe. I speak from my personal experience.
2. 

   July 14, 2016

   Pam

   There’s one point with which I have to disagree strongly. It will happen for Milo. Because he’s taking the risk now, young, with plenty of years to struggle ahead. And, there’s no doubt that he’s got the talent. Many writers say they’re struggling but indeed have resources, support in terms of spouses who pay the bills (or at least split them), or a house paid off, or a trust fund or small inheritance somewhere, down to a reliable car and all the other accoutrements that separate the haves from the have nots. Why this is some kind of a unspoken secret is beyond me. Just admit it, I want to say. Sure, writing is still a struggle, because writing is always a struggle. But being able to write, struggling just for the luxury of doing it, well that knocks out a whole slew of people for good, or at least for decades while struggling to get by day to day. All I can say is Bravo, Milo, for believing in yourself enough to take this risk, because waiting for the right time could take decades, and that’s a lot of time spent not writing books. Take it from someone who read financial reports for years upon years, and woke up in a sweat in the middle of the night with a real terror that I’d die without ever writing again. For too long, I faced that kind of reality and it wasn’t a smart choice. I wish I’d been more like Milo.
   1. 

      July 14, 2016

      Ashley

      I 100% agree that it is going to happen for Milo. He is too tenacious to fail.
3. 

   July 14, 2016

   Kelly J. Ford

   Unless you’ve lived through food and shelter insecurity — never mind neglect and [insert -phobia here], it’s easy to think that financial difficulties can be easily solved by hard work or positive thinking or behaving in a some other socially acceptable way. It takes a village. I’m heartened by the #weneeddiversebooks and #ownvoices movements in publishing to ensure that often-silenced voices (whether intentional or not) are heard. I think this is a topic that deserves a lot more conversation. It’s brave to speak honestly about your fears and frustrations. They resonate with me. Keep pushing and keep working. I believe, much like Pam, that it will happen for you.
4. 

   July 14, 2016

   Emily

   Thanks so much for this post Milo! It’s such a struggle to write that I think sometimes people take for granted all the little things that make it possible like not having to worry about paying the rent or paying for the next meal. I worked at a corporate job for 35 (yikes) years and my writing was always on the sidelines. Like Pam, thinking about this gives me night terrors. But while I slogged away I didn’t have to deal with financial worries as well. Can’t even imagine the added stress of that and how it would have affected my ability to write. Not enough gets written about how poverty can silence so many of the voices we most need to hear. Thanks for writing this and I’m sure it will happen for you!
5. 

   July 14, 2016

   Sharissa Jones

   Seldom do we get an honest articulation of just how damn stressful and disheartening it is to constantly face being one lost wallet or one broken carburetor from disaster. The world’s a better place with your writing in it, Milo. This post is a clear reminder of that fact. Thanks for writing it.
6. 

   July 15, 2016

   Rob Wilstein

   Hey Milo, thanks for your very honest and brave post. Not easy to put yourself out there like that. You will make it, if making it is getting published, making a few dollars from that, and building a life around writing. You have time, ability, and the Novel Incubatot, not to mention the entire Grub and Incubator community behind you. Just don’t buy any Lottery tickets, please.