A friend of mine is a genre fiction writer and he makes good money the hard way: by getting his books optioned for film & tv.
He has no kids, is married to someone whose family has a lot of money, and spent twenty years achieving very little while writing a lot.
But he worked like a dog on his fiction and currently has multiple books in various levels of 'development' and a film set to be shot this year with a known leading actress (not known to me, but certainly to fans of the genre).
Ultimately I think some success can only be achieved by grinding, and not everyone is in a position to do that mentally or financially.
He has no kids, is married to someone whose family has a lot of money, and spent twenty years achieving very little while writing a lot.
But he worked like a dog on his fiction and currently has multiple books in various levels of 'development' and a film set to be shot this year with a known leading actress (not known to me, but certainly to fans of the genre).
Ultimately I think some success can only be achieved by grinding, and not everyone is in a position to do that mentally or financially.