There’s something about writing
Reading through my online subscriptions this morning, I came across a YouGov survey reported in the Guardian which found that more people from the UK aspired to being an author than a sports personality, pilot, and in fact, any other job.
Why’s there such a widespread appeal in authorship, I wonder. The article goes on to suggest that the job’s popularity might be something to do with the success of JK Rowling in recent years. And sure, we’ve all heard the story of the struggles and the rejections before the million pound income, but that’s unlikely to be a reality for all authors (or even most).
There’s the idea of creating something that other people will consume. But don’t artists do that as well? Film-makers? Television producers? And I’m told that a lot more people watch films and television. Perhaps, then, it’s that books stay around longer. Antique books do have a certain appeal, after all. The classics of the book variety have been read for hundreds of years. But surely I’m not the only one to be less than enchanted with a 10 year old paperback, one where the paper has turned yellow and the pages are falling out.
I guess when I was young and dreaming of being a writer, it did seem to be somewhat of an easy job. I imagined the days disappearing as I tapped away on my keyboard, the words flowing effortlessly. Then I learnt about writer’s block, and word counts, and the edits that need to be done. And marketing, and talking about your writing, and all that scary stuff.
And yet, I still want to write. I’d still be in that 10% who’d rather be a writer than a sports personality or event organiser, and it’d great if one day I could call ‘novelist’ my day job. There’s just something about writing, I guess.
For anyone else out there who writes, or would like to, what is it for you?