Fair price? (I don’t this is the sole province of writers. I have artist friends who would agree.)
Before I entered publishing, I believed, like most people, that the life of a writer was to be envied. As one of my heroes, Truman Capote, wrote, ‘When God hands you a gift, he also hands you a whip.’ Now I understand that writers are a breed apart, their gifts and their whips inextricably linked.
—Betsy Lerner, The Forest for the Trees: an editor’s advice to writers
looking up/looking down 
What a terrific explanation. And yes, you’re right Amanda this not just the sole province of writers. Having been married to a visual artist for 33 years, and having working alongside him, Truman Capotes quote is more than applicable. My husband loves painting…but the whip sure comes down hard when it comes time to exhibit and – sell, sell, sell. Those red dots signify how we’ll be living for the next couple of years.
What an interesting way to loo at it. Sometimes I seem to misplace my whip though!
*look at it
There’s probably a whole cloakroom full of writers’ whips somewhere 🙂