"Somebody's always getting me to come lecture to their writing class, and I don't talk about writing at all, I talk about the business of making a living at this racket"
About this Quote
Pournelle’s line lands like a wink and a warning: the romantic fantasy of the writer as pure artist gets shoved aside by the grubby logistics of rent. The comic engine is the bait-and-switch. He’s invited to “lecture to their writing class” - presumably to dispense craft wisdom, tender encouragement, maybe a few sacred rules about voice. Instead he refuses the genre of the invitation. He talks about “the business of making a living,” reframing writing not as a calling but as a “racket,” a word that’s half affectionate, half accusatory. It suggests hustle, systems, gatekeepers, and the quiet indignities of monetizing imagination.
The intent is corrective, almost paternal. Pournelle isn’t saying craft doesn’t matter; he’s saying the institutions that teach craft often underteach survival. His subtext: students are being trained to produce work, not careers. “Somebody’s always getting me” also implies a weary recurrence, the endless cycle of classrooms wanting the myth of the writer while ignoring the spreadsheet reality. It’s a dig at academia’s tendency to canonize suffering as authenticity and treat money talk as impure.
Context matters: Pournelle came up in the late-20th-century genre ecosystem where freelancing, advances, magazine rates, agent politics, and editorial fashion could make or break you. For a journalist steeped in deadlines and markets, “writing” is inseparable from the machinery that buys it. The line works because it punctures pretension without pleading for sympathy. It’s not a lament; it’s a field report from someone who knows that talent is only half the job, and often not the half that pays.
The intent is corrective, almost paternal. Pournelle isn’t saying craft doesn’t matter; he’s saying the institutions that teach craft often underteach survival. His subtext: students are being trained to produce work, not careers. “Somebody’s always getting me” also implies a weary recurrence, the endless cycle of classrooms wanting the myth of the writer while ignoring the spreadsheet reality. It’s a dig at academia’s tendency to canonize suffering as authenticity and treat money talk as impure.
Context matters: Pournelle came up in the late-20th-century genre ecosystem where freelancing, advances, magazine rates, agent politics, and editorial fashion could make or break you. For a journalist steeped in deadlines and markets, “writing” is inseparable from the machinery that buys it. The line works because it punctures pretension without pleading for sympathy. It’s not a lament; it’s a field report from someone who knows that talent is only half the job, and often not the half that pays.
Quote Details
| Topic | Career |
|---|
More Quotes by Jerry
Add to List
