Multi-millionaire Cornwell bemoans inability to do anything for herself any more

This headline might be a tad cruel, but I think it just about sums up my knee-jerk reaction to the recent story of Patricia Cornwell winning $50.9 million in damages from her finance management company, New York firm Anchin, Block & Anchin LLP. Cornwell, for those who don't know, is an award-winning extremely popular author who has written dozens of books based around law-enforcement and forensic investigation, with a winning central character in Kay Scarpetta, originally a pathologist who has moved up and evolved through her own practice and onwards. I, personally, really like her books, but this story just smacks a little given the apparent out-of-touch attitude she has been portrayed as having towards what should be done for her.

The gist of it is that she missed a book deadline, blamed them for the losses of her advances from the publishers incurred by missing the deadline, and accused them of mis-managing her money and even dipping into it for their own personal use resulting in her only having less than $13 million left to her world-renowned name. Their argument is that none of the mis-management took place, and definitely none of the alleged personal use, but that rather it is Cornwell's extravagant spending and luxury life-style which has reduced her finances so. And certainly, having followed her on Twitter (@1pcornwell.) for a while and seen the frequency with which she pilots her own aircraft around,it would seem that her outgoings are a lot more than, say mine or yours.

All of that, the fact that she's fallen victim to the phantom penny-pinchers that stalk almost all of us and only make themselves evident when we have too much month left at the end of your money, financial depreciation and blame slinging, all of that aside, the crux of this successful author's argument in court appeared to be either extremely principled or insanely dependent and out of touch, depending on the way you look at it. The damages were awarded as a result of a combination of things, which a judge ruled were true and which I'm not going to quibble with- clearly this financial management company is pretty dubious in certain areas. The amount could be raised later by a federal judge, too, which no doubt Cornwell would then broadcast (if you check out her aforementioned Twitter, she hasn't exactly been gracious and dignified in victory). The problem is, though, the media focus on that one missed deadline in all headlines and leads, which passed Cornwell by because she was unable to finish the required draft or whatever it was for the publisher due to renovation on her house being incomplete and over-time. Cornwell could not write because her property was under building work, and the company did not find her anywhere else to write.
 
This is the multi-millionaire who owns aircraft and presumably quite a few road vehicles (including an Aston Martin), and would (I daresay) be capable of renting a motel room or even a hotel suite for a period of time. She could literally go anywhere; every time she gets in a helicopter Twitter is told about it, and sometimes even shown proof...

 

As alternatives for a writing place, we'll rule out sitting in a cafe, as clearly Cornwell wouldn't:

A)want to fulfill that cliche (perhaps even tweeting along and appearing on @WrknOnMyNovel., a hilarious insight into the amount of blinkered people who feel that the need to identify the fact that they are writing validates their identity as writers far more than, say, actually having finished something or even, heaven forfend, having it published in any capacity could) or;

B) Have petty change needed for a Starbucks, as she no longer seems to walk with mortals but rather guides her light aircraft through the ether above us.

Cornwell may be incredibly unfamiliar with being independent with catastrophic results for her work and her PR image, or have been taking an incredibly principled stand which shows that she still understands the worth of money or perhaps understands it more acutely thanks to the amount she has which unfortunately also had catastrophic results for her work but not necessarily her image. I can't quite decide. The argument that she couldn't write and doesn't know what the book is about any more seems extremely ludicrous, not just because so many great novelists and writers have struggled for years in absurdity writing wherever they could, in train toilets, cafes, kitchens etc; but also because almost every piece of advice for writers you find from Stephen King to any half-year course or evening class starts off with the ultimate rule almost identical to BEBO- the idea that you Write Early, Write Often.

 If you don't write more frequently than sporadically when the conditions are perfect then you are not a writer, apparently, and for a successful author to throw her toys out of the pram because conditions aren't perfect perhaps makes you wonder whether her heart's really in the book if she so readily gives up on it and if she's not become a bit of a writer Diva who hasn't got much clue outside of her brilliant book bubble where she doesn't stay grounded enough to look after her own money. When you get to a point where you have to pay someone an absurd amount to watch over the rest of your money because it's too much for you, arguably so you can concentrate on your writing but in reality freeing up time to enjoy your aircraft toys, perhaps you should take a few minutes to assess what exactly your priorities now are.