Many of us are drawn to a life in the arts but daunted by the realities of how to afford it. It is impossible to become an accomplished painter, composer or novelist without spending time experimenting, reading, talking and moping about the house. All this time must be purchased, one way or another. Is the history of art and ideas just a history of rich kids?

 The answer, of course, is no. William Carlos Williams was a family doctor. Franz Kafka was an insurance man. James Joyce mooched off his brother and Virginia Woolf was determined to make her writing pay no matter what. From family money to colourful schemes, Mason Currey, author of the acclaimed Daily Rituals, explores the well-worn and unlikely paths forward for the up-and-coming artist. Making Art and Making a Living is an entertaining examination of the collision of creative ambitions with real-world necessities, and of the messy compromises that gifted individuals have patched together to pursue an artistic life.