Money?

At times I feel like I'm letting my students down by not talking more about money and writing.

Then I think, if it's money you want, go into real estate, or finance. It will be a lot easier that way to make money. Why stay cooped up in a room for a year writing a novel on the gamble it will get published, become a best seller, and make you big bucks?

These days, there's less money, I guess, in finance and real estate, but I bet it's still a better gamble than writing.

If I were to become rich from writing, I couldn't in good conscience live the life of a Southern gentleman raising horses, a la John Grisham.  If I had a lot of money, I'd have to be in Haiti, running a refugee camp along with Sean Penn, whose not a writer but a actor, I know.

In the beginning CW classes the emphasis should be learning how to write welll. In later classes, more time can be spent on getting published, writing book proposals, finding an agent, and making money.
Those are my thoughts. I tell students their chances of becoming rich as a writer are about the same as their chances of going to Hollywood and becoming a big star.

Am I being too negative? What do you think?  I fell asleep writing this blog last night, after a three hour class. I can't recall actually falling asleep while in the midst of a sentence before.