A Little Motivation—Maybe

[Ian Rivedon 10]

Ian: are you studying creative writing? Presumably as a (full-time) Masters if so...

Any good? I don't find books on the subject particularly helpful, but a lot of those books are written by people who are struggling to make much of a living from writing.

I'm not sure to what extent I think there is a living to be made from writing novels any more!

 

I'm doing English Liit. & Creative Writing as an undergraduate. It is THE best decision I have ever made. There are, already, potential developments as a result of this, but I can't elaborate at the moment. I have read countless 'How to Become a Writer' books, and most are a waste of time. I love what I'm doing at university, and it has changed my life. The willingness of my tutor to read, and positively criticise one's (even non-course) work is amazingly confidence-boosting.

 

I don't worry about making a living from writing. I just want to write, the more, the better. Already, university has shown me that there are more ways than prose fiction of achieving success as a writer.

 

IR

[De Batz 10]

A mate of mine did the journalism course at (I think) London Met, and is successful in his way, but having been published and been on the display shelves at various bookshops, his life hasn't changed and he still really makes a living on contributions to works other than ones for which he will get credit. He's appeared on Newsnight, some daytime TV and so on, and is not wealthy for it. Nor do I think he has much creative joy from what he does, which is a shame - he's definitely hampered by his agent, who tells him to write for a purpose. This is what this admittedly rambling post has been leading towards, which is that having achieved some limited success and begun to fashion something of an income from writing, he has essentially thereby been prevented from writing what he wants to write.

I find myself almost unwilling to write this next sentence: I would write for nothing if I had the time and the income not to have to have a full-time job. I worry if I was independently wealthy, though, that I simply couldn't be bothered to write properly. As it is, I write as a hobby in much the same way as I play guitar, without expectation but with pleasure.

As it happens, I'd teach for nothing if I was independently wealthy, I'd just avoid teaching some of the more difficult and challenging classes!

 

So is this your first degree? I seem to have it in my head that you are more senior than I - have you mentioned grown-up children? - and had made some assumptions... I hope you get what you want from it. A lasting regret of mine is that I didn't really engage properly in my degree, though I still benefit from the experience.

[Ian Rivedon 10]

The last post! For tonight anyway.

 

I have met a few people recently who are similarly disenchanted with their successful writing careers. They all seem to be involved in journalism. Not exclusively news, even feature writing, it seems, can be a pain in the neck, just like any job. However, there are two ways to look at it: Which is more preferable, being a work-at-home feature writer earning 40K, or a plumber earning the same? The other is, if you were a brilliant artist and loved painting, would you do anything else in life?

 

I am indeed as senior as you imagine. I think I wrote in a previous post that I am in my sixth decade. I have had a relatively successful career in the IT business, but left school with no qualifications whatsoever. I have been given the opportunity to study at university, and I cannot say how lucky I feel to be able to do so. The thing is, I knew that I was good at writing when I was at school, but no one else seemed to recognise it. English was by far my best subject, but I was never given any encouragement. I grew to hate school and left as soon as I could, but even though I did have a good, well-paid career, I would rather have been a relatively poorer paid journalist. Having said that, I would much rather still have been a penniless writer of great works of fiction and commentary, living a typically bohemian life, like my literary hero, George Orwell.

 

It's getting late. I hope I write sense, because I haven't read through it.

 

Merry Christmas to you, and your (young) family.

 

IR