Yes, ok I’ve heard the old ‘people who only try writing to
make a quick profit will never make it’ truisms many times before, and I’m sure
most ‘wanna be’ or beginner writers would agree with this. You have to want to
write first, and then want to become good enough at the craft through diligent practice
and learning to become publishable. And although everyone’s definition of ‘publishable’
is different, it’s only really the editors/publishers definition that matters.
I may be wrong here, but I seem to have noticed a distinct
lack of the ‘fun’ part amongst the new wave of ‘beginners’ lately. Now, to set
the scene, I would consider myself a beginner writer, and have done so for at
least the past ten years. I say I’m a beginner because during this time I’ve
only just scuffed the surface of the magical mystical publishable barrier.
Although I would consider the substance (telling a cohesive story) and the technicality
(the craft aspect) of my writing to have improved during that time I will
always still see this as learning until the increasingly unlikely event of me
getting a publishing deal. It’s the last level of fine punctuation and grammar editing
that remained my biggest bug-bear, and I can’t afford to personally employ a professional
editor. But hey, that’s just me being grumpy again.
