Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2018/05/10/being-terrible-with-money-set.html
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There’s a direct relationship between some artist’s productivity and the rate at which they spend through their existing wealth.
Douglas Adams took longer and longer between publication dates on each of his successive creative works (including the movie and computer game) because he really enjoyed drinking wine and hanging out in the English countryside. His publishers had to go to extreme lengths to get him to meet his deadlines on the books he had committed to. If he had had more expensive tastes, we might have a lot more books in the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy universe. Too bad for us that wine and a cottage in the English countryside are relatively cheap.
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Wow, this is a bit of a head scratcher.
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I’m impressed with his videos so far…entertaining and good production value and pacing.
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I was once volunteering at the front table for a rainforest fundraiser at Virgin Records in Hollywood. Quincy Jones had something to discuss with Richard Branson and took pretty much the same approach described here. He was not on the list but actually it was pretty low key so of course, come right in. I told him it was for the Yanomami and he asked “Well, what are you doing for the pygmies?”
I’d told a bunch of attendees who’d bought raffle tickets that they didn’t need to be present to win. It turned out the person pulling raffle tickets was Richard Branson himself, and he was a couple of sheets to the wind. When he called names that weren’t there, he tossed their tickets and drew again. So, yeah, it makes sense to me that Quincy Jones + a lot of wine = business deals.
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…and listening to the pleasant sound of deadlines wooshing by is free.
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And that working out isn’t that safe for the unfit. Every time I don’t feel like working out, I remember that working out killed Adams.
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Adams was a terrible, terrible procrastinator. I’ve read stories about how his progress on earlier works was, in part, propelled forward by his friends who knew how much he needed the money and went to some extreme lengths to force him to work. Something which they didn’t need to do once he was better off financially (and no longer sharing a flat with them).
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The liner notes in the radio scripts mention them recording scenes just as soon has he was done typing them up.
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Quincy Jones: Deal Maker and Motivational Speaker
“Don’t Never Say No”.
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The ‘relatively’ I’ll grant you - compared to say taking up flying or owning a Brockian Ultra-cricket team.
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Relative to which bit of countryside and where the wine came from?
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What a great story!
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Mark Twain being another famous example.
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Not being able to continue the lifestyle that you’ve grown accustom to is a powerful motivator to go out and try to make some money.
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Good thing he never became one then! 
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On the contrary. DNA was an extremely good procrastinator.
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I vaguely recollect a story from some housemate who left in the morning with Adams promising to do some writing after he’d had his bath, which he was starting. When the housemate returned that evening, Adams was still in the bathtub. Apparently this was not uncommon for him. I think he later tried to frame his baths as part of his writing process, but they seem more like a procrastination technique.
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Write what you know I guess when thinking about a certain spaceship captain in the 2nd book.
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I too am terrible with money, which has set me on a path to brokedom.
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