Charles Stross, one of the UK’s most successful sci-fi writers, and a compulsive and prolific blogger, has written a series of posts about writing for a living, but there’s one post I think everyone should see, about the lifestyle of a writer. 
There are a lot of blunt truths here – though there are some key differences in the life of a children’s writer – so if you’re considering trying to get published, or if you are published and you’re wondering ‘Is it like this for everyone?’ (Answer: Yes, it probably is.), you should have a read of this post.
In the article, Charlie refers to a survey carried out by the Authors’ Licensing & Collecting Society (ALCS) on writers’ incomes in the UK. It makes for sobering reading. The Irish Copyright and Licensing Agency (ICLA) and the Irish Writers’ Union recently carried out a similar survey. I haven’t seen the full results yet, but I got a peek at some of them and, as might be expected, things are even tougher in Ireland. I’ll post more when I have more.
