Scrounging for money: how the world's great writers make a living.

Photo - Creative Commons

Making a living for one's writing is sometimes not the easiest thing to do. For some writers in history, they have had to learn to juggle their love of writing with another job - sometimes two or even three.  Becoming a writer and going done the path of locking oneself in a room, for hours on end or banishing oneself away from the rest of the world - for weeks at time in some distant, obscure country so as to churn out a best selling novel - is often required and can result in the production of 'a hit!' 

But... being realistic, writing takes time and delivering 'a hit' in today's world takes skill, craftsmanship and downright luck - for many of us.  So let's step back in time and take a look at how some of the best writers delivered results.  Camilla Nelson from the University of Notre Dame in Australia spells it out.