I heard a writer’s joke the other day – can’t recall exactly where, otherwise I’d credit it – but it went something like this.
Person 1: What do you do?
Person 2: I’m a writer.
Person 1: Oh, have you sold anything?
Person 2: My couch, my car, my flat-screen TV.
Amusing but at the same time rather insightful. There are very few writers out there who wouldn’t like to be published, to make a living from it, but the vast majority of us never will. We write because we love to write. We’d write more if we could, but certain things keep getting in the way – ie, the need to earn a crust. If we could do that by writing, we would. In the meantime we can dream, and writers most certainly dream, otherwise they wouldn’t write. For every successful author (no matter how bad their books) there are ten of thousands wanting to follow in their footsteps.
Sort of like actors in a way. Many want to be up there on the big screen, living the life luxurious, but most will remain stuck as waiters and maybe make a bit scene in the odd B-grade movie.
Still, if we do not try, we can’t know if we can succeed.
What we need to do is get more people reading more books – the more they buy, the more demand and hopefully the more chances of getting found. Of course, that may just be that aforementioned dreaming.
Mist and Shadows 