The Abject Loneliness of Being a Writer.
Its been a few years now since I tired of scribbling copy for products I never believed in, carefully crafting words for a certain target audience convincing them to buy items they didn’t really want and certainly didn’t need.
In many ways, it was a bold step to give up a company that I had built and stressed over for almost two decades in order to pursue a profession that, in hindsight, I had absolutely no knowledge of.
Fate was a little kind to me as my long-suffering partner was offered a position on the island of Bali in Indonesia and so it was rather an easy decision to simply up stumps and tag along with visions of sitting by the beach and tapping out the definitive novel.
One can dream, can one not?
Looking back, aside from copywriting I have always been a compulsive writer, scribbling journals, tapping out intense, verbose letters to absent friends as well as writing long, clumsy pieces that would, over time be consigned to the bonfire or left to yellow in a long - forgotten drawers. It is a complex puzzle this writing business as one strives to make everyday words come alive in well-crafted sentences that people want to read.
I fear that I have a long road ahead of me.
Writing for a living is indeed a curious business when one’s workspace is but a short commute from bedroom to study without the tedious chore of donning suitable clothing applicable to an office environment.
In fact, given that one’s colleagues lately have been reduced to the family cats, clothing is actually entirely optional and, to make matters better, there is no ‘dress down’ Fridays as each day dressing down is simply the norm.
What puzzles me the most about being a writer is that when meeting people for the first time and they ask of your profession and you answer quite truthfully that you are a writer their interest is suitably piqued. It is highly likely that they have read none of my books and yet they will embark on a long series of questions such as; do I write in longhand or directly onto the computer, what hours do I keep, whether one can actually make a living from writing and how one gets paid.
Now, had I answered plumber I doubt their curiosity would run to the matter of the diameter of pipes, clearing a blocked toilet or whether I was on call twenty - four hours a day. Similarly, would they be intrigued by the day to day activities of an accountant or indeed a real estate agent?
Saying that one is a writer is somehow a prelude to long, boring conversations regarding the novel that they are thinking about or writing or that their second cousin has in fact just finished his or her giant tome. I often hear the phrase, “you know, I have a novel in me” which I think to myself that is probably where it should stay!
Perhaps these days, when asked what it is I do for a living my standard stock answer should be that I am an extremely successful drug smuggler.
When embarking on this particular new ‘employment’ path I did think that it would be a lot easier than it actually is! Apart from actually finishing the damn novel then one has to get the thing published.
I have to say that I probably fluked acquiring a publisher in that I had the good fortune to meet a highly successful author at a well-regarded writer’s festival.
I think he took pity on me and gave me the phone number of his publisher who, I suspect also took pity on me and ‘gave me a go.”
Eureka!, I thought at the time, “ this writing gig is an absolute walk in the park, only then to be brought firmly back down to earth when the dreaded edit began. To anyone who has managed to tap out a book and then endured the tedious edit process has my profound sympathy.
Please don’t get me wrong, editors are literary champions and without them, most books would never see the light of day. However, I do have a sneaking suspicion that, at the end of their working day they don leather S & M gear and head off to dark dungeons to inflict pain on poor whimpering souls who have pretentious ideas about becoming writers.
There is nothing so demoralizing than to have entire chapters that one has thought brilliant returned with the pages looking as if they have contracted a rare strain of measles, complete with withering comments in the margins. Or, better still when two whole chapters have red lines slashed across each page with the words, “this is complete shite. Rewrite.”
When the exhausting process of the edit is done there is, of course, the text layout to deal with, when one squabbles with the design school guru who wishes to set the text in a font that hasn’t been used since the 16th century! “But it looks so cool,” they say, “yes, but it can only be read by monks” is my defensive reply. Much sulking will transpire until one of us will wilt.
Now it to the cover design!
This is a tricky process as I have found to my horror that often the cover designer has not bothered to even read the novel before embarking on a design that pleases only him or her. These days I restrict the design of my dust jackets to art directors with whom I have worked with for years. They at least read the manuscript even though they are liberal with their withering criticism of my literary efforts.
Then, the book is launched and then one teeters on the precipice when one’s precious novel stands on the brink of sliding into that terrible abyss. The biblio black hole!
Of course one could always get an agent but that is really like trying to catch the wind!
Even so, I shall continue to scribble, especially a weekly piece on this wonderful platform because really, I’m merely just a dilligent typist.
Paul v Walters is the author of several best selling novels and when not cocooned in sloth and procrastination in his house in Bali, he scribbles for several international travel and vox pop journals.
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don kerr
5 tahun yang lalu #29
Paul Walters Well it started with me raising what I thought were legitimate questions about the size of the hive and how I thought perhaps it was stalled and then the Queen Bees got kinda waspish and stung me out of the hive. Oh, and apart from about 20 - 30 people whom I really admire and loved engaging with I found the level of smarm rising to levels which were threatening my nostrils. But I still check in from time to time to stay in tune with the selected few of whom you are one.
Paul Walters
5 tahun yang lalu #28
Don \ud83d\udc1d Kerr So, do tell why did you, venture off the beBEE trail?
🐝 Fatima G. Williams
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🐝 Fatima G. Williams
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Thank you a always
Paul Walters
5 tahun yang lalu #22
Don \ud83d\udc1d Kerr . How nice to see you here again Mr Kerr . Too long between visits I fear!! Thank you for your kind comments
Jim Murray
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don kerr
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Paul Walters, my respect for you as a writer and a person just went up tenfold upon reading your answer to my comment in #6 below. For the record, I have a great deal of empathy for the trials and tribulations of being a creative fiction writer -- which is one reason, beyond the lack of talent, that I do not attempt to be one. Indeed, I cannot think of a worse nightmare than pouring one's soul into a work then sit silently while some wet-behind-the-ears millennial editor (perhaps the publisher's niece or nephew) rips it apart. A good editor is a godsend, a bad one truly a creature from Hell. Just don't give "them" the satisfaction of getting you down. Cheers!
Lisa Vanderburg
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Ian Weinberg . A drain surgeon ... now there is a splendid name for a plumbing company...register it quickly. Thanks for stopping by
Paul Walters
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Paul Walters
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Phil Friedman Well said Mr Friedman . This was a piece that was perhaps written when late at night, far from home I simply tapped out in an hour or two after a frustrating day. In truth, I love my 'job'
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