It Isn't Always Easy Being a Writer, even if You're World Famous

Another oldie updated….

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It Isn't Always Easy Being a Writer, even if You're World Famous

Bookbaby recently published an article detailing the trials and tribulations of some world-famous authors. Authors whom one would assume lived carefree lives of riches and unimpeded success.

But did you know Herman Melville’s career was destroyed by a shoddy editing? Apparently, Moby Dick was butchered by its English editor, with whole sections being moved around, and some being excised altogether since they were deemed politically incorrect (I kid you not) or just unnecessary.

These edits happened without Melville’s permission which was common in the mid-1800s (and today, trust me on that). In the end, Moby Dick was so poorly received it only sold about 3K copies during the writer’s lifetime, and up until that book, Melville had been a popular full-time writer. Poor guy had no choice but to take a job on the New York City docks prior to his death in 1891.

Back in the late 1800s, Mark Twain or Samuel Clemens or whatever you want to call him, put close to $200K into a automated printing machine that went absolutely nowhere. Think about it. That’s the equivalent of more than five million in today’s money.

To make matters even worse, his then business partner pretty much took the money and ran off. It busted the “Huck Finn” writer financially and in order to make up the cash, he embarked on a world tour which ended in tragedy when his daughter, Suzy, died back in the states.

Great Gatsby author, Scott Fitzgerald, suffered greatly from acute alcoholism. From one account, he drank a case of beer and a big bottle of gin every day for years and years. He also smoked like a chimney. His wife Zelda was a renowned loon and jealous of her husband’s talent and the attention it afforded him, often making his domestic life miserable (no wonder he drank all that booze).

She eventually went insane (she was most likely severely bipolar) and he had her institutionalized. His readership dried up as the Depression era hit and no one wanted to read about wealthy upper crust types. He went to Hollywood to make some money there and drank his profits away.

Eventually he would write a series of “crackup” articles for Esquire I believe. Hemingway called them humiliating. He also said of Fitzgerald, his one time Parisian friend, “Poor Scoot, he confused growing up with growing old.” The final check Fitz received from his publisher Scribners prior to the massive heart attack that killed him in 1940 was for $13.13.

Speaking of Hemingway, while he was arguably the most celebrated author of the 20th century, he was haunted by what he called the “black ass,” or what you and I might refer to as severe and recurring non-psychotic depression. It ran in his family — a family which has been plagued by suicides.

On a physical level, it’s also possible he inherited hemochromatosis, which is the premature hardening of the arteries. One who is afflicted with this disease should not drink alcohol since the booze causes high blood pressure, which also results in hardening of the arteries.

But Papa Hemingway was as renowned for his liquor intake as he was his words and adventurous, rugged individualist lifestyle. He should have died in one of the two plane crashes he was involved in in East Africa in the early 1950s. But he died the same way his father went out. By a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head just a few days shy of his 62nd birthday.

Ian Fleming drank and smoked so much, he died at the relatively young age of 56. Sylvia Plath committed suicide at 30. Truman Capote drank and drugged himself into an early grave. As as for Dr. Hunter Thompson? He ate a pistol barrel at his kitchen writing desk and blew his cranial cap away. He was just 68 years old.

Okay, so this isn’t the most encouraging of articles, especially if you not only want to be a famous writer, but you wish to emulate some of your heroes in the process. Just realize, even the most world famous and talented of authors have had their fair share of trouble in both the writing and the writing life. Chances are, you will too.

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