Non-Fiction Blues

Via the incontrovertible Steve Sailer sage writing advice from Neil Gabler:

I know what it is like to have to juggle creditors to make it through a week. I know what it is like to have to swallow my pride and constantly dun people to pay me so that I can pay others. I know what it is like to have liens slapped on me and to have my bank account levied by creditors. I know what it is like to be down to my last $5—literally—while I wait for a paycheck to arrive, and I know what it is like to subsist for days on a diet of eggs. I know what it is like to dread going to the mailbox, because there will always be new bills to pay but seldom a check with which to pay them. I know what it is like to have to tell my daughter that I didn’t know if I would be able to pay for her wedding; it all depended on whether something good happened. And I know what it is like to have to borrow money from my adult daughters because my wife and I ran out of heating oil.

I've been writing non-fiction, by which I mean publishing non-fiction since 2003. Its always been a thrill to get, and see my stuff in print. The money has never been great though. Standard comp is about 10 cents a word. Some pay $400 for feature. I made a deal to publish a piece in Britain for 250 GPS, which comes to about $400 American.

I'm still working on magazine articles. The key is not to get bogged down. Under deadline, I recently cranked out 5000 words in a week. Another little secret is write about the same general subject over and over again to cut down and save on research. I've written a big spread on WWII in Burma, an article about the Imphal-Kohima campaign, an article about the Meiktila campaign, a piece about Orde Wingate. I delved deeper into Wingate with pieces on Merrill's Marauders and the 77th Brigade. I wrote another on Stilwell.

This all amounted to about 50,000 words. That's getting damn close to book length.

A few years ago it occurred to me that instead of writing articles I should write history books. Having published a half dozen or so pieces on Pershing, I have amassed 70,000 words on him and the AEF.

This effort is going well. I have an agent and a publisher is interested.

I feel for Gabler. I guess I'm getting in the same boat.

What's his wife do?