I am a writer. That
means I like to write and do it on a semi-regular basis. What I want is to be an author, which is
where someone pays you to write.
I was reading an article which said that every writer
deserved to be paid for their work.
Semantics aside, to me, that is the key point which distinguishes
between a good writer and a bad one. Not
every writer deserves to be paid. The
bad poetry and stilted stories out there have all been written by writers. Just not good ones.
If you love to write and want to share, then I encourage you to do so. Put it online, pass it around to family and friends, however you want to do it. That’s the easy way.
If you want to be an author, then you have to do a lot more
work. Not only do you have to write
something other people want to read, but it has to be something other people
are willing to pay to read. That means
doing serious thinking about plot, structure and character. It means revising and revising again. And again.
It means sending your brave little creation off to strangers who are
going to rip it apart. And then you put
it back together again, making it better.
And then, you might be ready to send it to a publisher or agent.
It’s not all tapping at the keyboard and having brilliant
dialogue and characters dance at your fingertips. It’s a lot of hard work. How much, I’m only just discovering.
But you know what?
I’m really enjoying watching my story get better. It was good before but now it’s getting
polished and faceted. If I’ve done it
right, it’s going to sparkle and shine, drawing people into a world I
created. Hopefully they’ll have a good
time and want to come back.
At the brunch, one of the writers talked about how no one
can say no to you. If traditional
publishing doesn’t work, you can self-publish and still put your story out
there. So, I suppose people can say no,
they just can’t stop you. But even with
self-publishing, I think it’s important to go through the steps of polishing
the work.
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