Agatha Christie |
A YouGov poll
just released finds that becoming a writer is considered as the most desirable
job in Britain. 60% of people said they’d like to do it for a living. Fewer
people listed being a TV presenter or a movie star! This has thrown up
interesting debates on the net about writers and the writer’s life.
Maya Angelou |
George Orwell
described writing a book as “a horrible, exhausting struggle, like a long bout
of some painful illness.” If this isn’t graphic enough, consider Hemingway’s
quote: “There’s nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and
bleed.” And bleed, we do. It can strain one’s personal life, too, since the
writer is frequently absorbed with her own imagination and kind of oblivious to
her surroundings. I know that even while
sitting and watching TV with my family, for instance, I’m often lost in my
character’s fate or a particular plot point in the work in progress.
And then there’s
rejection to cope with. Not only rejection by publishers, but by readers. There
will always be some people who hate what you write, others who think it’s fair
to criticize because you write. Strangely enough, everyone feels there’s a
hidden writer inside him! It seems so doable until you actually get down to it.
So, why write?
It’s because we
have to. Those of us who are writers, don’t really have a choice. There’s this
thing inside of us- call it a demon or muse or merely some mysterious urging-
that won’t go away until it gets out on paper. As Maya Angelou said: “There is
no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.” (Quote from I Know
Why the Caged Bird Sings).
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