I see another "it is impossible to make a living writing" post making the rounds so I just want to tell you again about something the Icelandic government does. They give writers salaries to write books. Icelandic is such a small language, which makes for a very small book market ... 🧵

that sounds like a lovely little system! ensures creatives aren't fretting too much to put food on the table - even if they can only afford the cheap stuff 😅

📌

Yess, that seems to me like a humane attitude befitting the 3rd Millenium after Christ. Development is in the heart. Next the mind accepts.

And yet somehow the Icelandic economy hasn’t collapsed… Imagine that…. I’m just glad someone has a more enlightened government that can better calculate ‘value’

When I see those posts, I reply, "Lots of people make a living writing." What they MEAN to say is that nobody is paying them to write BOOKS. There are lots of types of writing and many jobs that involve writing. So if you want to make money writing, you can. Rule #1 of good writing: clarity.

I'm thrilled to learn the country that celebrates Christmas with new books supports its authors like this

... so there is no way to make a living selling only books, even if you are the biggest and most popular author in all the country. And there is NO WAY to write books for children or poetry and make a living. So the government supports writers financially.

I’m glad the government supports writing—such a rich history of language and literature there. I’m learning Icelandic and bought a book by Ragnar Jónasson and Katrín Jakobsdóttir in Icelandic, then realized I should probably have started with a children’s book. I’m going to get one when I’m there.

And writing well is hard. And it is scary to release a work.

What a wonderful country. Supports the arts and sustains the language and culture.