Penniless Writers: Ink Scrawl Nugget 19

Read this wonderfully quirky dedication by Tom Holt in his Here Comes the Sun.

For
MY MOTHER
But for whose tireless encouragement
And selfless dedication to the furtherance
of my writing career
(To the neglect and detriment of her own prodigious talent
as a crime writer)
I would now be the son and heir of a bestselling authoress
Instead of just another
Penniless
Author

Funny? Yes. But I am sure most authors would rather have rich parents then live on a mere pittance. If you feel that all authors make loads of money, that's because we get to read only about fat advances and huge royalties that a few authors manage to earn. Most writers, as this piece in The Independent says, struggle to earn a pittance.

More on dedications here. You will find D’Israeli’s take on book dedications from his Curiosities of Literature here.
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More nuggets from Tom Holt's works: The Pursuit of Happiness & True Reason for the Trojan War.