So You want To Be A Writer!

       I love to write.Love the creative process of words and ideas swirling around in my head and seeing them begin to tell a story in black in white on my laptop. I thrill to see the characters in my head come to life and show me who they are and begin to reveal their stories. The satisfaction of writing that final page is indescribable to anyone but another writer.Euphoria is as close as I can get to a one word description.
     Sounds great doesn't it?Thousands of potential writers seem to think writing a book is easy. Hundreds decide they can write a book,how hard can it be? Their choice of tools are chosen, laptop,desk top,word processors,special pencils,reams of paper,recorders,whatever tools they want to use to write the next bestseller.
Then it is on to choosing that special area in their home to write the epic book. Hundreds,maybe thousands, of dollars are spent by aspiring authors in order to have just the right setting and tools in which to write that breakout novel that will make them the next Stephen King,Nora Roberts,Poe,Hemingway or Rowling.
    How hard can it be to write a book? They have an idea that will have agents and publishers breaking down the doors to represent them and publish their amazing book.Dream on my naive friend.Reality will hit when you face the hours of research and the bleary eyed wee hours of the morning sitting facing a blank page when the right words are trembling in your head just beyond your reach.
    Writing is a misunderstood occupation. IT IS NOT A NICE LITTLE HOBBY!Writing is damn hard,often frustrating work.It is a very solitary,often isolating, job.No one can do it for you unless you take the route so many do and hire a ghostwriter. Cheating is what I call it.One is not an author if someone else writes the words and sweats over grammar,sentence structure,etc!
    Dues must be paid to reach that pinnacle of achievement,a published novel that John Q Public buys,likes and then wants to buy more of your work.  
    Then the last words are written and the manuscript if finished. It takes a while for the mind to catch up and grasp the reality. Then euphoria sets in and respiration increases,the heart races and tired cramped hands move away from the keyboard or the drop the pencil.
    Perhaps helpless giggles overtake the body or tears begin to flow.The need to shout from the rooftops,celebrate with actual people or dance naked in the moonlight might overtake the exhausted author at this time or it may come later when the shock has worn off.
   All too soon reality sets in and wipes away all thoughts of accomplishment.The dreaded specter intrudes and stares menacingly at the writer.But, it is too soon to face that task.Maybe the next day,the next week, next month or even the next year the brave writer will face it.
   But face it they will.Squaring their shoulders, they will sit down and begin one of the most dreaded tasks of all.Rewrites,revisions and editing! It's a dirty job ,but somebody has to do it!
   After many and often frustrating days, it is all done and ready for the next phase. Sending queries to agents and publishers, waiting for the rejections and praying someone will like your baby enough to ask for a full submission.(No guarantee they will like it enough to take you on as a client or find a publisher to want to print and market it.
   While all this is going on,the author has semi recovered and is hard at work on a new idea that won't leave them alone until they start bringing it to life.Why? Because it is what we do and to paraphrase a quote.
                                                    Because a writer can't not write!
   Now think long and hard about all of this and I admit this is just my opinion.if you still want to write you will.Nothing, and I mean nothing short of death will keep you from writing.If you still want to be a writer,then welcome to the world down the rabbit hole.We are all mad down here!