As far as mooching goes, I think college is a great place for aspiring authors to get started. You can mooch off the government (pell grants, student loans, etc.), at least for a few years. Just don't pick a difficult major (avoid things like, pre-med, engineering, fine art, music, theater, dance, nursing, social work, education, and several business degrees) so you still have time to write (also avoid difficult class whenever possible). I figure by the time you graduate you need to have written at least 6 novels and a dozen or so short stories. You latest novel should be publishible and you probably should have published one of the short stories already.
Then when you graduate, you get a low stress-job that allows you to keep writing, but pays the bills. (Examples low-stress: accountant, computer programmer, hotel night auditor, tech-writer, etc. Examples high-stress: teacher, manager, executive, personal assistant, social worker, paralegal, nurse, rescue worker, etc.) You can also continue to mooch off the government if you go to grad. school or become disabled (I recommend the former rather than the latter). Eventually, if you continue to write, you should improve as a writer and you should continue to publish more until eventually you can make enough money to write full-time.
If you are just really strapped for cash and not a student, you can mooch for a little while from the government through TANF (welfare). However, you need be supporting kids, plus the government does expect you to get a real job eventually. (not recommended)
Also, if what you write may help the community or academia somehow, you could look at getting a government grant to help feed you.
And don't forget about plasma donations.