Over the weekend I responded to about ten (writing related) e-mails. Five were fan mail regarding The Didymus Contingency, which is always appreciated and welcome. The other five were questions from other authors just starting out asking for advice and support. These e-mails are also welcome and I really do respond to them all...in detail. Though I have created a few FAQs on the website to help answer the common questions I recieve. But one of these e-mails was very hard to answer. It wasn't because I didn't know the answer, I did, it was just hard to say.
Basically, the question was: I really want to be an actor. I write as a hobby, but everyone says I should write professionally. What advice can you give a writer like me starting out?
To which I painfully replied (in a much longer, kinder way): Don't become a writer. But before you become agast and dedicate your life to boycotting my books, let me explain to you what I did to him.
He said first "I really want to be an actor." This is what he really wants. Writing is a hobby...for fun. He probably enjoys it and might even be a good writer, but it is just fun for him. But the really important part is that "everyone (friends and family) thinks he should become a profesional writer." So to me he was saying, I want to be an actor but I feel presured into being a writer." So, basically I told him, "Do want you want to do." And that doesn't sound nearly as cruel.
But here's the real lesson...because a lot of writers struggling to become professionals are like him. The really love writing and everyone tells them to take it to the next level. But not everyone should. Some writers are born with this never ending (some would say curse) desire to see their work in print, in bookstores, reviewed, translated, etc. I'm one of them. I work on it day and night. But other just really love writing...and that's it. And that's great. Why shouldn't these writers become published profesionals? Because it can take the fun away. It can destroy the love of writing.
Here's my personal example. I have been an artist my whole life. I have stacks of drawings I did as a child all the way up to last night. I was an art major in college with a 3.89 GPA. For the first twenty years of my life I did nothing else. I loved it dearly. And with all that practice came skill. I became a very good artist, but when college ended I entered the professional art world. I tried my hand at several outlets: comic books, graphic design (t-shirts, logos, websites, etc) art shows, portraits, everything. And in the end, I hated what I once loved. I'm still an artist today. I illustrated The Screenplay Workbook. I designed the cover for The Didymus Contingency. But what used to be several sketches a day and a large once a month is now a sketch or two a week and a large work maybe once a year.
So, if you're a writer and simply love writing. Keep it that way. Chances are that if you enter the profesional world you may end up hating what you love and even more likely, there will be other writers who have that drive to get published (along with the love) that will beat you to the punch every time. There is absolutely nothing wrong with keeping your creative hobbies to yourself. I wish, with art, that I had.
-- Jeremy Robinson
Basically, the question was: I really want to be an actor. I write as a hobby, but everyone says I should write professionally. What advice can you give a writer like me starting out?
To which I painfully replied (in a much longer, kinder way): Don't become a writer. But before you become agast and dedicate your life to boycotting my books, let me explain to you what I did to him.
He said first "I really want to be an actor." This is what he really wants. Writing is a hobby...for fun. He probably enjoys it and might even be a good writer, but it is just fun for him. But the really important part is that "everyone (friends and family) thinks he should become a profesional writer." So to me he was saying, I want to be an actor but I feel presured into being a writer." So, basically I told him, "Do want you want to do." And that doesn't sound nearly as cruel.
But here's the real lesson...because a lot of writers struggling to become professionals are like him. The really love writing and everyone tells them to take it to the next level. But not everyone should. Some writers are born with this never ending (some would say curse) desire to see their work in print, in bookstores, reviewed, translated, etc. I'm one of them. I work on it day and night. But other just really love writing...and that's it. And that's great. Why shouldn't these writers become published profesionals? Because it can take the fun away. It can destroy the love of writing.
Here's my personal example. I have been an artist my whole life. I have stacks of drawings I did as a child all the way up to last night. I was an art major in college with a 3.89 GPA. For the first twenty years of my life I did nothing else. I loved it dearly. And with all that practice came skill. I became a very good artist, but when college ended I entered the professional art world. I tried my hand at several outlets: comic books, graphic design (t-shirts, logos, websites, etc) art shows, portraits, everything. And in the end, I hated what I once loved. I'm still an artist today. I illustrated The Screenplay Workbook. I designed the cover for The Didymus Contingency. But what used to be several sketches a day and a large once a month is now a sketch or two a week and a large work maybe once a year.
So, if you're a writer and simply love writing. Keep it that way. Chances are that if you enter the profesional world you may end up hating what you love and even more likely, there will be other writers who have that drive to get published (along with the love) that will beat you to the punch every time. There is absolutely nothing wrong with keeping your creative hobbies to yourself. I wish, with art, that I had.
-- Jeremy Robinson
Posted by Jeremy Robinson at 7:27 PM 
