The Starving Artist's Survival Guide

by Marianne Taylor, Laurie Lindop, Paul Weil (Illustrator)

A Blackened Chicken Soup for the Artistic Soul
Passion, humiliation, and depravity are the cornerstones of the artistic spirit. How else to rationalize one's deliberate choice to face a life of unsigned rejection letters, calls from worried parents and collection agencies, and cups and cups of ramen noodles? Being a noble artiste is a rough gig. It's one part denial, one part masochism. And it gets all the respect of being a fry cook, without the convenient minimum wage. Only a fool would agree to such soul crushing -- until now.
The Starving Artist's Survival Guide boldly reassures both the dreamer and the doer that you are not alone. Regardless of whether you are a painter, a poet, a musician, a writer, an actor, or simply paralyzed by an English lit or fine arts degree, help has arrived. Topics include the pros and cons of various artistic day jobs ("People love clowns, except for the 80 percent who want to beat them up and the 20 percent who do"), coping with form-letter rejections through the healing power of haikus ("You, blinking red light, / A call back from my agent? / No, just goddamn Mom"), a survey of artists' dwellings (from the romanticized loft to Mama's rent-free attic), and most important, "Holding Ten Good Reasons to Keep Your Head out of the Oven."
Both celebrating and satirizing the pretentious poor, The Starving Artist's Survival Guide recognizes that the best way to cope with self-inflicted poverty is with unbarred humor, not macramé and coupon clipping.

Genres: Humor

208 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2005

Reviews

[Taylor · Rating 1 out of 5]

I feel that the humor should have been off-set, at least occasionally, with some authenticity. It was like a boring joke that went on far too long.

[C · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't find this very funny, or all that original. It got old fast. For more creative "starving artist" reads, try The Starving Artist's Way: Easy Projects for Low-Budget Living by Nava Lubelski or Bohemian Manifesto by Lauren Stover.

[James · Rating 1 out of 5]

use as t.p.

[sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

pretty funny gets old quick though

[Bethel Swift · Rating 1 out of 5]

If the mention of suicide tickles your funny bone - this book may be a good fit for you. Having some personal experience with the topic, I didn't find it so amusing and felt a chapter devoted to how other artists offed themselves (with reasons you shouldn't use their particular method as part of the "joke") should at least have been accompanied by a note encouraging readers who are seriously considering ending their lives to call a prevention hotline. Making light of suicide and depression aside, some substance (not just substance abuse references) or a bit of context with all the artist trivia would have been nice and all the pages of DIY & crafts were not funny enough to justify making it past an editor of a print publication.

[Courtney · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is great!

It is therapy for any artist juggling the real life priorities of a crappy day job to pay the bills while trying to still do their art and passion. This book has anecdotes and facts about famous artists including their crappy day jobs and living arrangements in the name of art.

Inspirational for real artists.

[Kristenyque · Rating 3 out of 5]

At first I wasn't terribly impressed. But the more I read it the more I enjoyed it. Although it is a book written out of humor, there is a lot of interesting information within. My favorite quote was "Imagine a crystal champagne glass in a Howard Johnson's dishwasher, this is how an artist feels." (This analogy describes the "sensitivity" of an artist.)

[Jamie Rosen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was wavering about whether to give it 3 or 4 stars today, but in the end the fact that they spend much of the final portion of the book dwelling on suicide pushed it down to 3 stars. It was jarring and out of place in what is otherwise a fairly light-hearted book.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love this. I still talk about this book to people.