TRP Moonlighting

[Geirland at aol.com]

I'd like to pose this question:

How did TRP support himself while writing his masterpiece during the mid to
late 60's and early 70's?

My guess is that V and COL-49 probably didn't generate enough income during
all those years, even for someone with monkish habits.  I can't imagine TRP
actually getting a steady JOB, so my guess is that he did one of two things
to earn extra income:  Free lance technical writing or hack writing--or both.
 As to the technical writing, this is what he did at Boeing, so it would be a
no-brainer for him.  He did apparently live in the LA area during the late
60's, so he could have fed off the (then) booming aerospace industry.

As to hack writing...Mario Puzo has said that he himself, on more than one
occasion, had become a single, pregnant young woman for True Confessions.  I
could see TRP blowing off steam, much as he apparently did in the W.T.
letters, and sending off the result to whatever magazine would pay him.

Of course, it is also possible that he wrote some serious work under another
name, but given the creative demands of writing GR, it's hard to imagine he'd
have the juice left over for anything serious.

Cheers,
John