Money (a creative essay)

Money (a creative essay)

A real gentleman, even if he loses everything he owns, must show no emotion. Money must be so far beneath a gentleman that it is hardly worth troubling about. Fyodor Dostoevsky

Was this really how Dostoevsky felt? He was under the gun most of his adult life, deep in debt from gambling, and nearly had to write a best seller just to survive. Some of his works did not receive good reviews, like The Idiot, a book that both my daughter and I have read and thought, there really is no plot here. It seems to me, the pressure he was under was sizable and probably did effect his writing, despite reaching acclaim.

Edgar Allan Poe lived in dire poverty as well, and really almost abhorred the fact that he was writer, or couldn't make it as a writer, and his attitude was such that he hated the world with a passion. So many that we read today were not rich the way Dean Koontz is today.

Nicholas Sparks told a room full of people, “Yes, I made a million dollars, but you know when it comes right down to it, that's not a whole lot of money.” I almost walked out when he said that, and such a crime to the lives of the greats who had so little.

Her voice is full of money. Scott Fitzgerald

When Scott and Zelda didn't have a lot to live on, even after his big break with Gatsby and all that money going quickly at the Riviera, and the bills piling up for experimental treatments for Zelda, Scott made his bread and butter through his short stories, Scribner's. Again, as a writer, it was essential that he produce lasting works that the public wanted to read. Both Scott and Zelda wanted to be known, but they became, 'remembered'.

These writers I've mentioned, sure they were thinking of their story, but were writing simply for money, which is a different way of saying, I must do this. I must say this. Dollar signs. It seems to me that writing just to get paid a triply hard occupation. But many can do it, and many do do it. I couldn't begin to put a price tag on some things I've written. I've been recognized, and that is just as good as a paycheck.