A Day in the Life of a Writer

You know, I have many people that I encounter that don't seem to realize that writing IS actually a JOB. We work all day long. In fact, some of us sacrifice family time, time with friends, time for sleep, in order to write and bring you the stories that let you escape from your reality for a while. Granted I have not been a writer for long, not professionally anyway, but I have come to realize some things. This is by no means a comprehensive list.

1) It takes far longer to write a story than it does to read it.

2) Writing the story is the easy part.

3) People don't see your sitting in front of your computer as being a draining job, they usually think you are goofing off.

4) There are those, even family, who will say that you have all the time in the world to do other things, because "all you do is write."

5) The price of that book that you are complaining is too high, really doesn't even pay the author minimum wage.

6) Good editors and proof readers are rare and worth their weight in gold.

7) Learn to take rejection graciously.

8) Not everyone is going to like your writing.

9) The best support group you can find is usually other writers, editors, proof readers, agents, and publishers.Basically, other people in the publishing business who know what you are going through.

10) It really is almost impossible to edit/proof read your own work.

11) There's no way you can be a writer and have perfect nails. You will be too anxious over reviews, sales, getting accepted, ect to keep from chewing them off.

12) Anxiety is almost a prerequisite to being an author.

There are many more things I have learned, but this is a short list. As a newbie, I'm still learning more and more things, so there is likely to be a blog adding to this list at some later date, lol. So next time someone starts to bash a writer for being 'lazy' and 'just sitting on their butt doing nothing all day' please feel free to correct them on that. Writing is one of the most mentally exhausting things you could do. It's also not as easy as you think. After all, if it were easy, those who criticize it would be writing instead of criticizing.