{"product_id":"making-art-and-making-a-living-adventures-in-funding-a-creative-life-9781250824523","title":"Making Art and Making a Living: Adventures in Funding a Creative Life","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\"Mason Currey is the undisputed master of finding, in the messy lives of great artists and thinkers throughout time, deeply human lessons about cultivating meaning in our current age.\" --Cal Newport, \u003ci\u003eNew York Times \u003c\/i\u003ebestselling author of \u003ci\u003eSlow Productivity \u003c\/i\u003eand \u003ci\u003eDeep Work\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eDaily Rituals\u003c\/i\u003e author Mason Currey weaves together delightful, illuminating stories and reflections about how famous artists, writers, musicians, and filmmakers throughout history have managed to successfully (or not) support a creative life.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eMany of us are drawn to a life in the arts but daunted by how to balance that ambition with the very real need to pay rent and put food on the table. It is impossible to become an accomplished painter, composer, or novelist without spending time experimenting, making false starts, absorbing criticism, 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? \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThe answer, of course, is no. William Carlos Williams was a family doctor. Franz Kafka was an insurance man, as were Charles Ives and Wallace Stevens. Grace Hartigan temped. James Joyce mooched off his brother; Christopher Isherwood ingratiated himself with a wealthy uncle. Virginia Woolf and Louisa May Alcott were determined to make their writing pay no matter what. And their material circumstances had an impact on all of their creative outputs. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eFrom family money to jobs to colorful schemes, Mason Currey, author of the acclaimed \u003ci\u003eDaily Rituals\u003c\/i\u003e, explores both the well-worn and unlikely paths forward for the up-and-coming artist\u003ci\u003e. Making Art and Making a Living\u003c\/i\u003e is an entertaining and thought-provoking examination of the collision of creative ambitions with real-world necessities and of the messy, glorious, torturous compromises that gifted individuals have patched together when facing the eternal dilemma of an artistic life.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Mason Currey\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Celadon Books\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 03\/31\/2026\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 240\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.91lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.46h x 6.61w x 0.93d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781250824523\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eReview Citation(s): \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/i\u003e 12\/15\/2025\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eLibrary Journal\u003c\/i\u003e 01\/01\/2026 pg. 59\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e 01\/05\/2026\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eMason Currey\u003c\/b\u003e is the author of the \u003ci\u003eDaily Rituals\u003c\/i\u003e books--\u003ci\u003eDaily Rituals: How Artists Work \u003c\/i\u003eand\u003ci\u003e Daily Rituals: Women at Work\u003c\/i\u003e--featuring brief profiles of the day-to-day work habits of more than three hundred brilliant minds. He has worked as the managing editor of \u003ci\u003eMetropolis\u003c\/i\u003e, the executive editor of \u003ci\u003ePrint\u003c\/i\u003e, and a senior editor at \u003ci\u003eCore77\u003c\/i\u003e, and his freelance writing has appeared in \u003ci\u003eThe New Yorker, The New York Times, The Atlantic, \u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eSlate\u003c\/i\u003e. Currey lives in Los Angeles and writes \u003ci\u003eSubtle Maneuvers\u003c\/i\u003e, a twice-monthly newsletter on the creative process.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"booksdeli.com","offers":[{"title":"Mason Currey \/ Hardcover \/ English","offer_id":47809109229725,"sku":"9781250824523","price":60.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0619\/5648\/9373\/files\/img_b9ab34c2-10e0-481f-acf7-324ceaa2cd49.jpg?v=1775556442","url":"https:\/\/booksdeli.com\/products\/making-art-and-making-a-living-adventures-in-funding-a-creative-life-9781250824523","provider":"booksdeli.com","version":"1.0","type":"link"}