Brigid Kemmerer spent years writing before and after work, during lunch breaks, and at 5 a.m. while holding down a finance career and raising three children. Today, the New York Times bestselling author says her income as a full-time writer supports her entire family.
Kemmerer, based in Baltimore, said she started in finance at 19 and later became a licensed stockbroker. She sold her first novel in 2011 and kept her day job while writing whenever she could. For years, she treated writing like a part-time business built around a consistent salary.
The turning point came in 2016, when she sold the book that let her leave finance. That novel, 'A Curse So Dark and Lonely,' became her biggest deal at the time and her first book to reach The New York Times bestseller list. Kemmerer said it gave her enough money to quit her day job.
Even then, publishing was not an instant windfall. She said she used her first advance to fix a leaky roof and buy a cheap children's playset from Costco. She also described a long stretch of early mornings, late nights, and lunch-hour writing sessions on an 'ancient, janky laptop' that only worked when plugged in.
Kemmerer said she loved the stability of her finance salary, and not everyone around her took writing seriously. At one point, she said, a manager openly mocked her in a meeting for writing romance, which made her more guarded about her work.
The financial stakes got sharper after her husband, who works in IT, was laid off about two months ago as a direct result of AI being introduced at his workplace. The family had been covered by his health insurance, and now Kemmerer says her author income is paying for their coverage.
For a family of five, she said COBRA costs between $2,000 and $2,500 a month. She also recalled earlier periods without insurance, including one time when a child got strep throat and she had to pay cash.
The math is simple: creative freedom is valuable, but recurring cash flow matters more. Kemmerer's story is a reminder that a real business, whether it's a startup or a writing career, has to cover the basics first — rent, health insurance, and family expenses — before it feels like freedom.
Founders who get this right move faster. Kemmerer did not quit finance on hope alone; she waited until a book produced enough revenue to replace a paycheck. That is the playbook: build the asset, protect the runway, and only then bet on yourself.
