What Famous People Did to Hone Their Craft and Pay the Bills

Worthy Quote
Mac Wellman, who shared with me his frank opinion of the purpose of graduate playwriting programs: "to replace the Bohemian communities we had in the 1960s." (Wellman heads his own graduate program at Brooklyn College). From an article by playwright Clarence Coo for the Playwright's Forum.

Worthy Quote

Mac Wellman, who shared with me his frank opinion of the purpose of graduate playwriting programs: "to replace the Bohemian communities we had in the 1960s." (Wellman heads his own graduate program at Brooklyn College).

From an article by playwright Clarence Coo for the Playwright's Forum.

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What Famous People Did to Hone Their Craft and Pay the Bills

Feb 04, 2007 at 12:34 PM

While many writes have chosen to teach to make ends meet, there are many who took different paths:

Louisa May Alcott - seamstress, domestic helper, governess
Aphra Behn - spy
Louis Begley (winner of the 1992 Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award) - continues to work as a partner at a law firm
T.S. Eliot - editor at a publishing house
William Faulkner - factory worker and screenwriter
Barbara Kingsolver - science writer and journalist
Ted Kooser - insurance representative
Zora Neale Hurston - anthropologist
Pablo Neruda - diplomat
Dorothy Parker - piano player at a dance school, later hired by Vogue
Wallace Stevens - an insurance executive
Amy Tan - worked as a language development consultant and a freelance business writer
Walt Whitman - worked as a nurse
William Carlos Williams - a doctor

We know we're missing many other great examples. Help us out if you know some that aren't on the list.

User Comments

Comment by GUEST on 2007-02-04 14:54:11
What an odd website. I don't agree with your premise, but I appreciate the dialogue. And while I wish you the best of luck, I think you would bolster your position if you excluded long-dead writers and focused instead on contemporary ones. For your argument, historical context is key; could Alcott or Hurston, for instance, have chosen to pursue an MFA? What were Whitman's alternatives? And Aphra Behn seems quite beside the point. Perhaps only Begley and Tan are relevant here.

You may wish to get the book The Elephants Teach: Creative Writing Since 1880 by D.G. Myers. I think you'll find it interesting. Also, there was a recent article in Poetry written by John Barr, "American Poetry in the New Century," that you may find useful. But be sure to see the rebuttal by D.W. Fenza "Who Keeps Killing Poetry?" which appeared in The Writers' Chronicle. Each of these is accessible online.

You should probably include in your list Ted Kooser (recent poet laureate), who worked as an insurance rep for many years.

Perhaps also Barbara Kingsolver, who was a science writer and journalist before becoming a novelist.

Best,
J.D. Schraffenberger

Last Updated ( Feb 04, 2007 at 04:37 PM )

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If the best thing about MFAs is that they help build a community of writers, what does it say about the community that they have to spend $20,000-$50,000 and take a few years out of their lives to build it? We support alternative communities without entrance fees and want to ensure that people without MFAs are not excluded from publishing. We also enjoy food, drink and good company. Feel free to join us.

Credo

If the best thing about MFAs is that they help build a community of writers, what does it say about the community that they have to spend $20,000-$50,000 and take a few years out of their lives to build it? We support alternative communities without entrance fees and want to ensure that people without MFAs are not excluded from publishing. We also enjoy food, drink and good company. Feel free to join us.

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