A few days ago I started reading a book called How to Make $50,000 A Year or More As a Free-lance Business Writer by Paul D. Davis. This book is going along with goal #5 I set for myself this year (if you don’t understand the reference I’m making, check out my last blog post linked here- https://mythoughtsonwritingandreading.wordpress.com/2017/01/01/my-2017-writing-goals/ ). I want to make sure I educate myself as much as I can on this topic so I know the best ways to start writing Freelance.

Now Mr. Davis (I just don’t feel comfortable calling him Paul, we’re not close) gives the reader a little test at the end of the introductory chapter because he considers this book only for serious students and not for people who think writing is an easy and instant way to gain fame. The two questions are-

1. What fuels your urge to be a writer?
2. If you could earn a respectable living as a writer, but never achieve public recognition outside your profession- would you still want to do it?

So here are my answers to th0se questions-

1. For as long as I can remember, books and writing have been a huge part of my life. he magic of reading a new book that later becomes a cherished favorite is- in my opinion- one of the greatest joys a person can experience. Like some people believe one great song can change a person’s life, I believe one great piece of literature whether it be a novel or a poem or an article in a newspaper or magazine can change a person’s life. And to have the opportunity to (hopefully) create that novel or poem, or write that article that will change a person’s life motivates me to want to be the best writer I can be.
2. Absolutely. While having a career like J.K. Rowling’s or Stephen King’s would be amazing, I would be just as happy to wake up everyday and know I’m getting paid to write. No more dealing with rude and ungrateful customers, no more pretending to care about corporate policy and dress code, and most importantly- no more putting my energy into something that doesn’t inspire me the way writing does. To me, having the freedom to write as much as I want without having to take time away from it for some 9-5 job, that would be the best thing that could happen to me. Fame isn’t everything, but the ability to say you love what you do is, and I would take that kind of happiness over fame any day of the week.

I’m not sure if Mr. Davis would consider me a serious student or not, but that isn’t going to stop me from reading the rest of this book  and gaining the knowledge that’s inside of it.

So my questions for all of you are- What are your answers to those 2 questions? Also, do you think there is a right or wrong answer to what fuels a person’s urge to be a writer? I feel there are no right or wrong answers to the my second question, but I’m curious to see how everyone’s opinions differ on it. What I am hoping to do is use the answers from this blog post (with permission of course) for one of my blog posts in the upcoming weeks as a way to show that even though we all have different motivations and opinions as writers, what we do have in common is that we all believe writing can unite us in a way nothing else can because the written word is an important staple in all our lives.

I can’t wait to see all your responses to the questions above and if you would like me to do that blog post, let me know in your comment and also put “I give permission for my response to be used in a future blog post” or something along those lines so I know you would like me to use your response.

I hope everyone has a wonderful start to their 2017!