Today’s quote comes to us from my friend, author, wedding officiant, quilter and lover of all four legged creatures Spike Gillespie. I first met Spike in a Austin Chronicle staff meeting. I remember being in awe of her because her verbal repartee with everyone in the room was quick and smart and funny while I was but a rapt bystander. When I asked her what quote keeps her writing, she called upon Dolly Parton.
“I had to get rich before I could sing like I was poor again.”
“When I heard Dolly Parton say that,” says Spike. “I assumed she meant that her amassed wealth allowed her, later in her career, to make the gorgeous, stripped down bluegrass records she recorded for the Sugar Hill label. They probably don’t make much money, but they are priceless. While I never made (anything near close to) a fortune with my writing, a funny thing has happened thanks to the Internet. With so many people writing so much shit for free (and so much of it is just that– shit), the demand for real writing from real writers has dropped (as you know). It is hard if not impossible to make a living as a writer now. In that sense, I am “wealthy” because I don’t have to think about money–there is no money out there to think about. Thus I am free to write whatever the hell I want, which I do at my blog. I’m also working on a book that I might self-publish if I ever finish it. And I have a very, very, very slow moving writers’ blog where I post stuff maybe once every other month.”
