Let’s be clear: Writers and artists deserve nice things

I just saw someone post something that made my blood boil, but probably not for the reasons they probably intended:

“If you can afford to go on a writer’s retreat, you’re not a writer.” 

Enough of this gatekeeping nonsense. You’re a writer if you write. That’s it. That’s the only requirement. And no, it doesn’t mean you have to be struggling to count.

Yes, I’m all too aware that it’s hard to make a living as a writer – especially in the UK. As the Author's Licensing and Collecting Society reported in 2022, author's median earnings were just £7,000 a year and the situation is getting worse.

But that doesn’t mean we need to cling to the myth that artists should struggle. It’s not a badge of honour. It’s not noble. It’s a systemic failure that too many people have accepted as normal. Writers deserve nice things. We should be pushing for that.

If you can afford a retreat, great. That doesn’t make you less of a writer. It just means your circumstances allow for that kind of time and space. Wouldn't it be great if every writer had access to such resources? The answer isn’t sneering at those with support; it’s fighting to make that support more widely available.

Let’s also stop pretending that privilege automatically cancels out passion. Some writers have partners who help cover the bills. Others work two jobs or rely on family or grants or sheer bloody determination. Every path is valid. No one writes in a vacuum, and support – of any kind – shouldn’t be a source of shame.

And while we’re at it, let’s remember: the starving artist myth only benefits the systems that underpay us. It romanticizes burnout and keeps creative labour cheap. If we keep insisting that pain is the price of entry, we’re only making it easier for the world to undervalue us.

And it doesn't just affect those who want to make a living via their writing. As Amie McNee says in the brilliant We Need Your Art: Stop F*cking Around and Make Something:

"The belief that artists don’t produce anything ‘valuable’ doesn’t only affect those of you who want to be professional artists. It also affects artists who make art for the joy of it. When we devalue the work of artists, we make all art seem unnecessary and unworthy. Hobbyists and professionals alike grow ashamed of their art. They make less because they internalise stories that tell them they should be doing something ‘useful’. We reduce the total amount of art in the world and therefore reduce the total amount of good."

Wanting to make a living through art isn’t selling out. And being able to doesn’t mean you’ve “made it” while someone else hasn’t. Success in the creative life takes a thousand different forms – and none of them are more “real” than the others.

The world already sneers at writers. At artists. At the idea that imagination could support a lifestyle. Let's not add to the lie that art is worthless by sneering at each other.