Pound for trying hard? It's an author's life! (3-7)

I believe the answer is:

pen-pushing

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'hard? it's an author's life' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this definition defines the answer.

'pound for trying' is the wordplay.
'pound' becomes 'pen' (both can mean an animal enclosure).
'for' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'trying' becomes 'pushing' (I can't justify this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'pen'+'pushing'='PEN-PUSHING'

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I've seen this clue in the Evening Standard.

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