Adventures in Writing…thoughts and dreams about being a writer

The cover for my historical novel ‘Varangian’.

Making life as a writer.

Wow, wouldn’t that be something?

I’ve always dreamed of this. I remember watching a documentary about Val McDermid, and how she gets up in the morning to ‘go to work’, which is essentially a beautiful little annexe on the side of her house. She stays in there all day creating. Wow. The thought of that. To be ‘your own boss’, to have the time, the opportunity to devote oneself one hundred percent to writing…that would be something.

I’m not talking about best sellers, or busting your balls to make a sale, I’m talking about the sheer pleasure of being consumed by your own creations.

That for me is the goal.

I don’t suppose it is ever going to happen though. Everywhere you go, everything you read, it’s all about how the publishing world is changing, how the opportunities for being published have multiplied beyond imaging, how the big publishers only want you if you’re a celebrity, or Harlan Coben. And now, I feel, a lot of people are put off reading ‘new’ writers, from indie publishers, because of the amount of utter tripe there is out there. We really do need a form of quality control. But I have no chance of cutting through all of it, no chance at all. So, it is pretty gloomy and depressing.

I know some writers who work hard all day every day, and dream of having time to go and do normal things, like walking or shopping! They graft away at their ‘job’, but do you know what,. I’d do the swap. I’d work all day writing and give up my day job, and I’d do it in a flash.

Wishful thinking? Well yes, of course it is. I’m never going to be a bestselling writer. How can I be? Even if my books were as good as anything Joyce or Dickens or Hardy wrote. Like I mentioned earlier, it’s just not going to happen. There are simply too many people writing and publishing now, so the dream will have to stay as it is – a dream.

But it’s a lovely one nevertheless, and I’m not going to give up on it, no way!

Please visit my website for links to my books, and extracts from my latest book VARANGIAN, which I hope you enjoy.

http://www.stuartgyates.com

Or follow the link for Amazon.com…HERE