This article says it all--thank you Linda Caroll:

“Mama used to get so upset that I wanted to write and paint and draw. She’d tell me go into business or accounting because writers and artists go hungry. And I’d say all those people in the unemployment line are hungry too. Laid off from jobs they hated…

I could tell you stories like that all day. Because I hunt them down. Read stories about the people like me who chased a dream. And I learned there isn’t just one way. And sometimes, there’s zigzags in the path…

Boy that hits me hard. I think about that a lot. All those years of family telling me I’m irresponsible. Sending me job listings. And here’s me. Tapping away at my keyboard all these years later. It’s all I ever wanted. You know? Live on my terms.”