Tag: habits

Many of my published friends refer to writing as an expensive hobby. Writing as a simple hobby, it is one of the cheapest ones you could pick. On top of that I have seen very few agents prefer paper submissions. Most want you to send it electronically now, so that helps if you ever decide to submit a manuscript.

For Fun’s Sake

I realized that writing for me is a hobby. Maybe you can relate. Writing as a whole has always been a form of escapism for me; I would be happier with it and get more actual words down if I concentrated on it full-time. I discarded the notion that I would ever publish a single word of my creative writing when I was deep into my first book. Looking back, I can’t say that place was very constructive. The desire to publish my work is not equal to the desire to write and express myself. To build a name for myself or even just for the ego trip of seeing my work on the bookstore shelves is not the incentive. I never figured I’d be able to make a living as a writer, but that did not discourage me, in fact it liberated my creativity. In friends of a dear friend writing is nothing like Castle. Most fiction writers do not earn a living from their fiction alone. They supplement their income by giving seminars, teaching, lecturing, or working at a day job. Those who do make a living are a small minority, and their income tends to be small as well. Put it this way — if you work in WalMart or MacDonalds, you are probably going to be better off on a consistent basis than if you write fiction for a living. The Stephen King level of income is like a leprechaun — you hear about it, but nobody you know has actually seen it.