Not necessarily his writing, or at least not the writing he intends. His journals are heartbreaking, and were a habit he started before the financial crash of 1826, which left him (roughly taken inflation into account) £11 millions of dollars in debt.
Which was also, shortly after his wife (of 30 years died).
"I have seen her. The figure I beheld is, and is not, my Charlotte—my thirty years' companion. There is the same symmetry of form, though those limbs are rigid which were once so gracefully elastic—but that yellow mask, with pinched features, which seem to mock life rather than emulate it, can it be the face that was once so full of lively expression? I will not look on it again. Anne [his daughter] thinks her little changed, because the latest idea she had formed of her mother is as she appeared under circumstances of sickness and pain. Mine go back to a period of comparative health."
And when he discussed the thought of his debt:
"But I will involve no friend, either rich or poor. My own right hand shall do it—else will I be done in the slang language, and undone in common parlance… Well—exertion—exertion—O Invention, rouse thyself! May man be kind, may God be propitious… All my hope is in the continued indulgence of the public."
He considered bankruptcy, but that would mean losing all of his assets, the most importantly, his land.
"An odd thought strikes me—When I die, will the journal of these days be taken out of the ebony cabinet at Abbotsford, and read with wonder, that the well-seeming Baronet should ever have experienced the risk of such a hitch? —or will it be found in some obscure lodging-house, where the decayed son of chivalry had hung up his scutcheon, and where one or two old friends will look grave, and whisper to each other, 'Poor gentleman'—'a well-meaning man!'—'nobody's enemy but his own!'?"
He wrote until he died 6 years later, suffering from strokes.
It's hard for me, because it boundaries on toxic stoicism, where he could've depended on others who did have the means to relieve his debt. In some regards, we can think of how he was depressed and maybe punished himself by literally writing himself to death. It's also notable that his novels were published anonymously until he was forced to reveal his identity. (His books were internationally known, even during this time).
But at the end of the day, he secured his land and their home, and completely resolved his debt posthumously.
Anyways, I got that out my head.
by NewspaperSoft8317