How to be a writer on $10,000 a year

I have been been reading Boswell's Life of Johnson, and it's quite fascinating. I'm up to Johnson going to London to try to make a living as a writer. Boswell records a hypothetical budget that one of Johnson's friends had explained to him:

Thirty pounds a year was enough to enable a man to live there without being contemptible. He allowed ten pounds for clothes and linen. He said a man might live in a garret at eighteen-pence a week; few people would inquire where he lodged; and if they did, it was easy to say, "Sir, I am to be found at such a place." By spending three-pence in a coffeehouse, he might be for some hours every day in very good company; he might dine for six-pence, breakfast on bread and milk for a penny, and do without supper.

Samuel Johnson in 1772

Let's break that down:

Item	Per day	Per week	Per year
Clothes		4 s.	£ 10
Rent		18 d.	£ 4
Food	7 d.	4 s.	£ 10
Coffee	3 d.	18 d.	£ 4

Now, this website tells me that £1 in 1750 would be the equivalent of £190 today, and this in turn equates to A$350. This gives us an annual budget of $10,000:

Item	Per day	Per week	Per year
Clothes		$70	$3,500
Rent		$30	$1,500
Food	$10	$70	$3,500
Coffee	$4	$30	$1,500

For a writer in Melbourne, the coffee works out about right. The food budget would be roughly equivalent – $2 a day will give you bread and milk for breakfast, while $8 will fill you up in Chinatown. Unfortunately, one would be hard pressed to find accommodation at even the most dingiest dive for $30 a week. The clothes budget, both then and now, is wildly disproportionate.

Birthday of a great man

Today is Martin Luther's birthday. Here are a few of my favorite quotes, in honour of a man who was used by God to bless so many who came after him.

"It is pleasing to the dear God whenever thou rejoicest or laughest from the bottom of thy heart." --Martin Luther

"To be gloomy before God is not pleasing to him, although he would permit us to be depressed before the world. He does not with me to have a long face in his presence, as he says, 'I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked [Ezek. 33:11] and 'Rejoice in the Lord'. [Phil. 4:4] He desires not a servant who does not expect good things of him." --Luther, Table Talk #122

And lastly, a long quote from the only major work that I have read by Luther, The Bondage of the Will:

"...God has surely promised his grace to the humbled: that is, to those who mourn over and despair of themselves. But a man cannot be thoroughly humbled till he realises that his salvation is utterly beyond his own powers, counsels, efforts, will and works, and depends absolutely on the will, counsel, pleasure and work of Another--God alone. ....he who is out of doubt that his destiny depends entirely on the will of God despairs entirely of himself, chooses nothing for himself, but waits for God to work in him; and such a man is very near to grace for his salvation."

A Goal Worth Having

"I want to take such good care of my husband that whatever he is doing, he can do it better, because he has me."

Jacqueline Kennedy, as quoted in A Thousand Days of Magic by Oleg Cassini

This quote encapsulates for me what being a "help meet" is all about. This is what I, Lord willing, aspire to be.

*cross-posted from my Sister-Blog, because this quote was too good to miss.

No time to read?

Once upon a time in the dead of winter in Dakota territory, with the temperature well below zero, young Theodore Roosevelt took off in a makeshift boat, accompanied by two of his ranch hands, down-stream on the Little Missouri River in chase of a couple of thieves who had stolen his prized row boat. After days on the river, he caught up and got the draw on them with his trusty Winchester, at which point they surrendered. Then, after finding a man with a team and a wagon, Roosevelt set off again to haul the thieves cross-country to justice. He left the ranch hands behind to tend to the boat, and walked alone behind the wagon, his rifle at the ready. They were headed across the snow covered wastes of the Bad Lands to the rail head at Dickinson, and Roosevelt walked the whole way, 40 miles. It was an astonishing feat, what might be called a defining moment in that eventful life. But what makes it especially memorable is that during that time, he managed to read all of Anna Karenina.

I often think of that when I hear people say they haven't time to read.

--David McCullough in a commencement address at the University of Connecticut

Wodehouse on Aunts

One of my all-time favorite Wodehouse quotes, said in a moment of exasperation by the character Bertie Wooster (in conversation with valet Jeeves) after being pulled into yet another doubtful venture by an overbearing aunt:

If I had my life to live again, Jeeves, I would start it as an orphan without any aunts. Don't they put aunts in Turkey in sacks and drop them in the Bosphorus?
Odalisques, sir, I understand. Not aunts.
Well, why not aunts? Look at the trouble they cause in the world. I tell you, Jeeves, and you may quote me as saying this: Behind every poor, innocent, harmless blighter who is going down for the third time in the soup you will find, if you look carefully enough, the aunt who shoved him into it.
There is much in what you say, sir.
It is no use telling me that there are bad aunts and good aunts. At the core, they are all alike. Sooner or later, out pops the cloven hoof.
--The Code of the Woosters, chapter 2

Funny thing is, Wodehouse himself had a comparatively easy time as far as female relatives go; although he was technically raised by his aunts, the majority of his childhood was spent at boarding schools.

Try This!

A quote from my current read:

Go ahead and throw another log on the fire. Read like reading is supposed to be done, not with a hand on a mouse, not slogging your way through hyperlinks that only serve to make you hyper, but simply. Sit back with the drink of your choice--as long as it is not some industrial sludge--and have a nice read, remembering that real change comes when real people have real conversations about really important things.
--R.C. Sproul, Jr., Eternity in our Hearts

Jerome K. Jerome on work

I like work; it fascinates me. I can sit and look at it for hours. I love to keep it by me; the idea of getting rid of it nearly breaks my heart.
You cannot give me too much work; to accumulate work has almost become a passion with me; my study is so full of it now, that there is hardly an inch of room for any more. I shall have to throw out a wing soon.
And I am careful of my work, too. Why, some of the work that I have by me now has been in my possession for years and years, and there isn't a finger-mark on it. I take a great pride in my work; I take it down now and then and dust it. No man keeps his work in a better state of preservation than I do.
But, though I crave for work, I still like to be fair. I do not ask for more than my proper share.
But I get it without asking for it-at least, so it appears to me-and this worries me.
George says he does not think I need trouble myself on the subject. He thinks it is only my over-scrupulous nature that makes me fear I am having more than my due; and that, as a matter of face, I don't have half as much as I ought. But I expect he only says this to comfort me.
--Jerome K. Jerome, Three Men in a Boat

Elizabeth Yates on bestseller lists

"Sometimes I wish those lists had never been invented. They put a stamp of mass approval on some titles and keep people away from other books that are equally good and often far better."

Elizabeth Yates, Beloved Bondage

Wodehouse Quotes

Need something to brighten your day? Check out this page. Every time you refresh it, you get another random quote from my favorite humorous author. (HT: Carmon)

I discovered Wodehouse's works a few years back and have been laughing ever since. Well, not exactly non-stop. There are other books to read as well. ;)

My favorite quote? From The Butler Did It: "Poverty is the banana skin on the doorstep of romance."

Currently reading: Bertie Wooster Sees it Through

Joy in trials

I often think on joy. Perhaps that's because it's my middle name. So when I was looking at my recent feeds in Bloglines, my eyes were immediately drawn to this post from Nancy Wilson's blog, Femina.

Here's an excerpt:

So what is joy to the chronically ill and suffering or those who are
under the burden of a heavy load? It is remembering and taking comfort
in the fact that God is good to all His children, that He is faithful,
kind, and loving. It is knowing that this earth is not our home, and
that He showers down blessings even in the midst of storms. It is
embracing the fact that He truly cares for us in these hard
circumstances, and it is believing beyond a doubt that all that happens
to us is for our good. When we remember who He is, we are reassured that
He will somehow make all things right in the end. In this is joy.

No situation is so dismal that we cannot look up through a dark sky and
still know that there is a sun coming. We believe anyhow, even when we
see no hope. We hope anyhow just because we are His children. Like the
psalmist says, “I would have lost heart, unless I had believed that I
would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living” (Ps. 27:13).

I have often said that it is seeing life through the rose-coloured glasses of God's sovereinty that keeps me going in the midst of struggle. Truly, the joy of the Lord is my strength.

God in the Details

Here's an excerpt from a recent Highlands Study Center newsletter. Mr. Sproul gives a reminder that God is truly in control of all. This is something I know intellectually but often fail to live up to...and thus need to be continually reminded!

God in the Details

I’m on hold as I type. I’m waiting to find out if my riding mower is fixed. After eleven years of faithful service, my previous mower finally went the way of all flesh. In February (see how prudent I am, buying in the off-season?) I bought a new mower, and an expensive warranty. During my fifth mow something went wrong, and my mower has been in the shop now for three weeks, awaiting a back-ordered part. Boy howdy is it frustrating.

At the same time we have been going through a dry-spell around these parts. To call it a drought would be to give the wrong impression. There are no tumbleweeds rolling down the street of Mendota. But we haven’t had much rain, and so my grass hasn’t grown much at all. There’s some tall weeds here and there, but the grass is just fine.

Now I bore you with lawn talk not to delay the inevitable, where I give in and go out and try to mow three or four rather vertical acres with a push mower. Instead I have a point. Just as we are willing to “allow” God to reign over certain parts of our lives, that is our own personal “spiritual realm,” so we “allow” Him to reign over certain parts of the universe. Wars, and rumors of wars are appropriate objects of His attention. Rain also, because there’s not much we can do about it, is something we are content to leave in His hands. Mower repair, or parts procurement, however, that’s a human thing.

When Abraham Kuyper first thundered, “There is no square inch in all reality over which Jesus Christ does not declare, ‘MINE’” we all stand up and cheer such grand and eloquent insights. We stand ready to storm Washington , Hollywood , perhaps even Amsterdam , having heard such rousing speech. That’s a good thing. But it also means that the three or four square inches that are the missing pulley on my mowing deck are missing because the King of the Universe has so declared.

Understanding that God reigns over the details not only should give us greater wonder, it ought also to give us greater peace. When you get cancer, when you go through the Internet treatment, when you deal with a sick child, it is actually comparatively easy to remember that God is in control, and to rest in that truth. When you just miss the green light, when your luggage gets lost by the airline, or when your mower quits in the middle of a mow, it’s a little harder. Which challenge then has the greater power?

--R.C. Sproul Jr, Kingdom Notes, Number VII

Till We Have Faces by C.S. Lewis

This book is awful, really. As I read it, I felt at once repulsed and fascinated. No matter how ugly this retelling of the Cupid and Psyche myth became, no matter how many times I questioned why Lewis even bothered with it, I felt I must finish the reading.

It wasn’t until I reached the final 50 pages that the light began to dawn. Lewis used this pagan myth and transformed it to show the dramatic contrast between sacred and profane love. Never before have I seen a more powerful illustration of self-deception. And this is why I am recommending this book: it is storytelling at its’ finest.

“Lightly men talk of saying what they mean. … When the time comes to you at which you will be forced at last to utter the speech which has lain at the center of your soul for years, which you have, all that time, idiot-like, been saying over and over, you’ll not talk about joy of words. I saw well why the gods do not speak to us openly, nor let us answer. Till that word can be dug out of us, why should they hear the babble that we think we mean? How can they meet us face to face till we have faces?”

--C.S. Lewis, Till We Have Faces

Tea Box Quotes

Interesting tidbits of literature can be found in many unusual places. These quotes came from some Celestial Seasonings tea packages and went straight into my collection.

"I call architecture frozen music" --Goethe

"The difficult is done at once, the impossible takes a little longer." --Arabian Proverb

"Yesterday is already a dream and tomorrow is only a vision, but today well-lived makes every yesterday a dream of happiness and every tomorrow a vision of hope." --Sanskrit Proverb

This one is a little longer, but I love the imagery:

"On the train from New Delhi bound for Bombay, a stranger boards, bearing the aroma of spices and exotic teas. His eyes, brown as cinnamon, smile as they slip across my face. He places a worn leather case beside his feet, and I glimpse the aging label that decorates one side. The label bears the image of a majestic elephant--a great, gray, tusky beast adorned in crimson blankets edged with gems. I wonder at this stranger's journey, what tales he might tell if only I dared to ask. The rocking of the train lulls me to a dream-filled sleep, where princes wearing gilded smiles guide elephants across the shifting sands. When I awake, the stranger has departed, leaving me with mystery and the promise of adventures still to come." --Debra Bokur

Calls to prayer

In light of the recent discussion on Getting Serious About Getting Married, I was interested to find two relevant calls to prayer.

The first is from a pastor, who calls fathers to fast and pray for their daughters on this day, that “God would bless them mightily by providing marriages for them for the glory of Jesus Christ.”

The second is from a single young woman, who encourages young women to pray as well:

“Dear sisters, I feel too many of us are sitting idly by, contentedly refining our homemaking skills while completely oblivious to the spiritual battles the young men of this generation are facing. Contentment is needful. Patient waiting on the Lord is needful. But it's not enough! If you honestly believe the Lord has called you to marriage and a godly family, there is a battle to be won right now on your knees for your future husband and home. The statistics of godly young men should be enough to show us that Satan is trying to destroy the home before it's even begun. Are we neglecting earnest interceedings for that man we will call our own someday? Are we sitting contentedly by in our single life, while our future husbands fight desperately against the countless things that seek to tear down their fervency for God?”

We are called to be “constant in prayer”. (Romans 12:12) Let us pray that God will raise up a generation of young men, exemplary in their youth (1 Timothy 4:12), sober-minded (Titus 2:6-8), and strong in the Lord (1 John 2:14).

The Colour White

"...the chief assertion of religious morality is that white is a colour. Virtue is not the absence of vices or the avoidance of moral dangers; virtue is a vivid and separate thing, like pain or a particular smell. Mercy does not mean not being cruel or sparing people revenge or punishment; it means a plain and positive thing like the sun.... God paints in many colours; but He never paints so gorgeously..., as when He paints in white."

--G.K. Chesterton, "A Piece of Chalk" in Tremendous Trifles

Thankfulness Thursday: Snow!

Taking my cue from Lydia, I thought I'd share a few pictures of what I'm thankful for this week:

Snow!

(me)

It didn't seem much like winter around here until recently...I guess God wanted to wait and make it a surprise. It has been so nice to bundle into soft, cozy warm clothes and head out for a fast sled ride in the field behind our house.

(my brother Matt and sister Tine)

"...He saith to the snow, Be thou on the earth; ... by the breath of God frost is given: ..."
Job 37:6a, 10a

(An interesting formation of geese)

After my dad and brothers shoveled the snow away from our driveway, we were left with large piles of snow: perfect for making tunnels!

(I took this pic of brothers Tim and Matt from inside our snow cave.)

Hast thou entered into the treasures of the snow? Job 38:22a

88888888
The Picture that isn't here:

I'm a fan of the Calvin and Hobbs comic strip. If you've read any of the books, you know that the creator, Bill Watterson, had some very creative ideas for snowmen! So I decided to make a troop of miniature snowmen to guard our snow fort. I finished eight yesterday afternoon....but by morning they'd melted... before I could take a picture. :-(

Here's a portion of a poem that I found in a magazine once. It's a beautiful description of a winter afternoon:

"The whole sky was blue
And the thick flakes floating at a pause
Were but frost knots on an airy gauze,
WIth the sun shining through."

--Robert Frost

I don't know if there's more. Has anyone read it before? I'd love to know what it's from!

Expanding the View

I’ve been rethinking my goals for this blog. I’ve enjoyed these past seven months of writing almost exclusively on the subject of literature, however, books are not always the first thing on my mind.

While being a bibliophile is a defining characteristic of my life, it is not the only or primary one. First and foremost, I am a Christian girl committed to learning more about God, growing in a deeper relationship with Him, and conforming every area of my life to His will.

I want to be able to share what I learn along this path and be an encouragement to others as I do so. I hope by becoming more personal and varied in my approach to more effectively reach this goal.

I find it an almost humorous evidence of a mind fond of clear-cut boundaries that before changing direction I must make a formal statement of my intentions! Yet there it is.

For those of you who enjoy book reviews, etc-- don’t worry! I doubt I’ll ever run dry on subject matter there. I like this quote by Elizabeth Goudge:

“…When people once begin to read they go on. They begin because they think they ought to and they go on because they must…. They find it widens life. We’re all greedy for life, you know, and our short span of existence can’t give us all that we hunger for, the time is short and our capacity not large enough. But in books we experience life vicariously.”

It’s true! I must be very greedy. ;-)

The focus here at the Biblio-File is not shrinking, but broadening.

Resolutions?

There has been a lot of discussion recently in Blogland about the making of New Year’s resolutions.

Some enthusiastically champion the practice, lauding the benefit of added focus to their year. Others shun it like the plague, citing the depressed feelings that set in when the resolutions are not kept.

I’m not a resolution maker. The traditional list of New Year’s resolutions has always seemed to me to be a frivolous substitution for true commitment. I don’t want to look back at the end of my life and see a trail of broken promises. I want to be faithful in the things that truly matter, things like building my relationship with God and with people.

This isn’t to say that I don’t have goals and dreams. I do, as the many lists filed in my notebooks will testify. But I want to keep things in perspective. Most of those things are nice, but not top priority. And my brain doesn’t like clutter; I’m not a very good multi-tasker!

Several days ago, I began to think over the past year. It was a hard year, probably the hardest yet of my short life. There were many times when I became so mentally bogged down in troubles that it was hard to do anything else but anguish. Yet whenever things looked blackest, God was faithful to remind me that He was the One in control. I remembered how many times I worried about what people thought instead of what Christ thought. Then I remembered the peace that came when I finally gave things up to God. And almost before I realized it, I’d renewed an old “resolution”: in the words of the hymn-writer, “I am resolved to follow the Saviour.”

Life as a Christian isn’t always easy. But there’s Someone we can go to for answers.
Life as a Christian isn’t always pleasant. But we look forward to Joy.
Life as a Christian isn’t the way we would have planned it. It’s infinitely better!

“I am resolved no longer to linger,
Charmed by the world’s delight;
Things that are higher,
Things that are nobler,
These have allured my sight.

I am resolved to go to the Saviour,
Leaving my sin and strife.
He is the true One;
He is the just One;
He hath the words of life.

I am resolved to follow the Saviour,
Faithful and true each day,
Heed what He sayeth,
Do what He willeth;
He is the living Way.

I am resolved to enter the Kingdom,
Leaving the paths of sin.
Friends may oppose me,
Foes may beset me;
Still will I enter in.

I will hasten to Him,
Hasten so glad and free.
Jesus, Greatest, Highest,
I will come to Thee.”

Palmer Hartsough, 1844 - 1932

My sentiments exactly

I am in the mood for a good story. Of course, I am always in the mood for a good story.
--Theodore Roosevelt

Mixed Metaphors

‘ “Any message I can give him, if he turns up?”

“Yes. You can tell him I am going to break his neck.”

“Break his neck?”

“Yes. Are you deaf? Break his neck.”

I nodded pacifically.

“I see. Break his neck. Right. And if he asks why?”

“He knows why. Because he is a butterfly who toys with women’s hearts and throws them away like soiled gloves.”

“Right ho.” I hadn’t any notion that that was what butterflies did. Most interesting. “Well, I’ll let him know if I run across him.” '

-- P. G. Wodehouse, The Code of the Woosters, chap. 6