On Being a Writer – Kat Howard

Wonderful post from Kat Howard:

On being a writer

My students know that I write. So even though I don’t teach any creative writing courses, there are usually a handful of students from each class every semester who come and talk to me because they want to be writers.

There are, I tell them, lots of ways of being a writer. There is writing that you do solely for yourself, or writing that you do because you want others to see it. You write because you want to see your name in print, or because you want to get paid. There is writing that is a hobby, and writing that is a career. Sometimes these categories combine. I tell them there is nothing inherently better or worse about any of these ways of writing, they are just different to each other.

Usually, though, when a student comes to see me about writing, it is because she wants to write for publication, with the stated or implied hope of it being a career, and the often implied hope of seven-figure book deals, lunches with King and dinners with Rowling. I try to give a reality check – I mention median first novel advances and that professional short story rates are five cents a word. I talk about people I know with multiple books on the shelf who still can’t afford to be full-time writers. This information almost never makes a difference, and I’m glad, even though I think it should be part of the calculus. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with being attracted to a profession because you think you will be blindingly successful in it – you might be. Better to dream.

For the rest, go here.

 

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