In 2018, as a younger writer in a different phase of life, I was thrilled to interview prolific author William Vollmann. A digital magazine employed me at the time, but it clearly wouldn’t forever, and while Vollmann and I talked, my infant daughter slept in her crib in her nearby room. One piece of Vollmann’s advice struck me: “Don’t write for money.” Although writing earned him his living, he understood that, in a larger sense, separating your income from your creative output provides distinct benefits. Vollmann’s words rang with the authority of experience, so I listened. {read}