Wealthy, Connected or Supported?

A discussion has been going on the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators site as to whether it’s necessary these days to be wealthy, connected or supported to launch a career writing children’s books.The discussion has made me smile the way limited-to-now visions always make us old folks smile. The truth is, being subsidized in one way or another has always been necessary. Well, necessary is too strong a word, but it has always helped a whole lot.Forty plus years ago when I came into the field, the majority of us writing or trying to write children’s books were married women. I would guess that’s still true. The difference is that in the 50’s and 60’s being married usually meant leaving employment to care for husband, home and children. I taught during the early years of my marriage, supporting my husband through his undergraduate degree and then through seminary. After that I settled in to being a mommy and, not without significant demands, a clergy wife.When my youngest child entered first grade, I decided instead of writing in the cracks of time to treat my writing as my work. And in addition to setting a schedule and doing it, I also stepped away from many of the traditional roles clergy wives filled at the time. It helped that we moved to a new community soon after I started writing fulltime, one where the congregation had no idea that I could run a church school or even cook. And when I left the marriage years later, I could thank the husband I left behind for the established career I took with me.So yes, the majority of children’s writers when I came into the field were “kept” women. And if that’s less true now that is mostly because even married women these days rarely have the privilege of staying home to pursue a career that may never pay.As one of the founding faculty and the first Faculty Chair for the Vermont College Writing for Children and Young Adults MFA program, I watched our students, many of whom went through the program on borrowed money, emerge into a post-graduate world. A few—a very few—found fabulous contracts and overwhelming success. Some graduated and years later still haven’t published. Many others have found occasional success, a book published here or there, but probably haven’t earned enough to cancel out their student loans. A fair number have also found adjunct teaching positions because of their MFA, but few enter such a program with teaching as their primary dream.A low-residency program such as VCFA has an advantage over any ivory tower. Students do the work of the program while continuing to manage the rest of their lives … nine to five jobs, parenthood, community obligations, etc., etc. Exactly as working writers must do every day.And that’s the reality. Few writers, male or female, can “give up the day job.” Even after they are publishing. They couldn’t when I began writing, and they can’t today. I am fortunate enough to be able to support myself with this good work, but to do so I have spent years cobbling together multiple sources of income: part-time teaching and lecturing in addition to the writing. And even that combination provided income sufficient to sustain me only after fifteen years of writing fulltime plus a Newbery Honor award.Beyond that, I have taken on many projects simply because they were offered and I knew I could do them. That’s why I have almost one hundred books out there. The cobbling applies even to my writing itself.The news about writers’ income is not good these days. The publishing industry is in profound transition, and no one knows what we are transitioning into. In addition, more books are published every day, which means my book, your book may hardly be noticed … even if it is really, really fine.So … give up writing and get a job pumping gas? (Whoops! Those don’t exist any longer either.) No. Just be realistic. If you came into writing for the money, you are probably never going to see enough of it to justify the long, long days you’ll be putting in. If you came into writing because you love doing it, because you don’t seem to have any choice but to do it … well, then there’s your reward.And the fact that you can be paid something for the privilege of this profound play is a gift!