If you are an emerging artist...

You need to read this.

And if you still want to be an emerging artist you need to do some serious thinking. While I don't have the benefit of a large inheritance or wealthy spouse, I've been able to make some progress pursuing playwriting in an evenings-and-weekends way.

There comes a point where you have to accept that this will always be the way it is. Even if I get the odd play produced, at the rate that I can create work I can't seriously anticipate ever earning enough writing (even as a full time writer) to compete with the escalating costs of living that come with owning property and having a family. So regardless of success I will always be an evenings-and-weekends artist.

To be honest, that's sometimes hard to live with because you wonder what you "could have" achieved without having to spend so much of your time in meetings or staring at spreadsheets. Of course it also protects you from the possibility that you were always destined to be a charming amateur who would never have made it to the next level.

Aspirations, anyone?