By whose rating? By mine (I'm not a writer, I'm a programmer, occasional musician, and SF fan), they are mostly pretty normal, as normal as most of my family and friends (noting that in geometry 'normal' means "at right angles to everything else"). By the standards of the other creative communities (visual arts, music, etc.) as well. By the standards of Joe the Plumber we are probably all Dagenham (two stops past Barking).
For most it is a high pressure and intense job, and one with very little in the way of job security (I doubt that unemployment insurance would touch it even for the best selling authors). That often means that they need to have a mundane job as well, so cutting into free and relaxing time and increasing stress. Also, in common with other creative work, it can be hard to switch off, many writers have said that they write because they can't not write (I've heard the same from composers and artists, and programmers for that matter).
On the other hand, relatively few seem to actually go medically insane compared to other jobs (I know a much higher proportion of teachers, for instance, who have had breakdowns). Perhaps their 'edge' is just further away, or perhaps the creative outlet enables them to get closer without falling over...
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mmmag
no subject
Date: 2009-01-05 08:29 pm (UTC)For most it is a high pressure and intense job, and one with very little in the way of job security (I doubt that unemployment insurance would touch it even for the best selling authors). That often means that they need to have a mundane job as well, so cutting into free and relaxing time and increasing stress. Also, in common with other creative work, it can be hard to switch off, many writers have said that they write because they can't not write (I've heard the same from composers and artists, and programmers for that matter).
On the other hand, relatively few seem to actually go medically insane compared to other jobs (I know a much higher proportion of teachers, for instance, who have had breakdowns). Perhaps their 'edge' is just further away, or perhaps the creative outlet enables them to get closer without falling over...