All writers main question: Uh…can I have a six-figure advance?
Well, can I?
That’s what I need to work.
I need a room and money.
I mean, it makes no difference that I can’t get anyone to even read my submissions.
I’d still like that advance though…
There’s an old New Yorker cartoon of two men sitting on a couch at a busy cocktail party, having a quiet talk. One man has a beard and looks like a writer. The other seems like a normal person. The writer type is saying to the other, “We’re still pretty far apart. I’m looking for a six-figure advance, and they’re refusing to read the manuscript.”
–Anne Lamott, Bird By Bird