You cannot live on other people's promises, but if you promise others enough, you can live on your own.
One measure of friendship consists not in the number of things friends can discuss, but in the number of things they need no longer mention.
But in the meantime I became accustomed to the writing life and it would be hard to change now - partly because of the salary cut if I went to my other love, teaching; and partly because I still have stories to tell, even though it isn't all that fun doing the work anymore.