Every great writer endured the terrible lifestyle of a fledgling writer before they wrote that first book, poem, or magazine article.
The good folks over at Boingboing pointed me towards this excellent bit of fan fiction written by one of my favorite novelists, Jonathan Lethem. In the pages of the Virginia Quarterly Review, Lethem riffs on the early career of science fiction guru Philip K. Dick, exploring the trials and tribulations of fledgling writers.
That's my favorite part of this site, sharing the stories of struggling writers. It helps, sometimes, to remind yourself that some great writers survived the same poverty, exhaustion, or other problems that you experience right now as a fledgling writer.
Read the story, and keep on writing...
"Here’s the writer of Ubik, stopping in at Art Music on Shattuck Avenue in Berkeley, a store selling sheet music and records and phonographs, a store where until recently he was a mere but happy clerk. Now he is something else, something less mere, something less simply happy."
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