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What is your opinion?

edited September 2012 in - Writing Problems
I have been a writer all my life but have had no success, so in the past year I actually gave up on it and spent more time on other hobbies. But I am thinking of the subject of 'writing' again, welcoming the hobby back into my interests.
Do you believe though that you can have 'fun' just writing for yourself? I believe I can and if I think anything I write is good enough for publication in the future I will give it a go.
What do you think?
Should I give up on it altogether or continue in the future to write, even if it is only just for my own pleasure?

Comments

  • Never give up, Alana. I have been writing for about four years now, and have never been published. Aside from my wife and a few friends both here and elsewhere, no-one has seen what I write, and I have been content to write for my own pleasure. I did make the decision at the beginning of the year to try to have something published before the end of the year, but I have done absolutely nothing about it except enquire to a couple of publishers. I have no illusions about making a living out of it, as I have my work anyway, which I am very satisfied doing, so if I was lucky enough to publish anything, I would be simply pleased that I had done it, and have my name on the cover of my own book. It would not matter to me if it did not sell thousands.
    If writing gives you pleasure, and you have stories waiting to come out onto paper - or computer, as the case may be - then keep at it. What kind of things do you write? Personally, I write sci fi.
  • I only write for pleasure. If anything gets published it's fantastic but I just have to write, especially poems.
    What do you write? Maybe you should try something different like poetry or non fiction, so don't stop.
  • I used to write short stories. Though I now have started planning writing a romance story and intend it to be a longer than a short story. I have written the beginning but have not planned it fully yet on how it will continue due to 'me nearly giving up'.
    I, myself, due to health problems I have been ordered by a professional doctor to read only light novels so in the past week I have managed to buy second-hand 'Mills and Boon', 'Silhouette' and other romance stories and have completed reading three of them already, enjoying them all. So I have the thought in my head to follow that type of story plotting to do myself.
  • Never give up, do what you enjoy. Why not start a Blog? That will focus your mind and you can ramble away, write, create and enjoy yourself.
  • That sounds like a good idea Alana. They say you should write the sort of stories you enjoy reading yourself.
  • Don't give up, ever.
    Once you start writing your brain will never be quiet again, and as you've discovered you can stop for a while, but the lure of the pen/keyboard will not be resisted.
  • Hello, Alana.

    If you are a writer, you are a writer. You were born that way, so there's nothing you can do about it, I'm afraid!

    Whatever gives you pleasure (if it's legal and not a health-hazard!), you should indulge in. Why not? You have nothing to lose and the more you write, the more polished your work will become. There are so many opportunities out there to get your work seen (e.g. competitions, websites, writers' groups) if that's what you want to do, or you could just build up your own portfolio to use as and when you like, or not at all.

    Go for it! I'm sure writing a romance will give you a great sense of achievement.

    Good luck.
  • Write, write, write Alana. If you strive for publication then do have your chosen market in mind before starting to write the piece/book which you intend to submit. Whatever your reason for writing don't give up - I like to think it keeps the grey matter working if nothing else.
  • [quote=Baggy Books]Why not start a Blog?[/quote]

    That's a great idea. All the forces who keep the unpublished unpublished haven't found a way round that one!

    I had no idea, when I started this lark, how unbelievably difficult it is to break into any sort of marketplace. Even though I often feel like giving up, I can't. I've always written to work through a line of thought, or through habit and pleasure, so just because I'm not published won't mean I can stop writing.
  • I'm a strictly 'for pleasure' writer Alana, but that doesn't stop me from having occasional periods of despair when nothing of creative consequence troubles my brain. In bleak periods, waiting for ideas, I look out old stories and perhaps tart one or two up for competitions, or try for publication on any websites that are asking for submissions.
    As Baggy and pbw have said, blogging is a good way of pushing your work on line and can be great fun.
    When all else fails you can keep your creativity honed by coming on to Talkback to poke gentle fun at some of the strange people who bumble about on here. By and large, they don't seem to mind, and it helps to pass the time.

    Good luck
  • There's no reason why you shouldn't write just for fun if that's what you want to do. Lots of people have enjoyable hobbies they never expect to make money from or to have the results appreciated by anyone other than perhaps a few friends or family members.
  • [quote=snailmale]By and large, they don't seem to mind[/quote]

    Well, you know, anything that helps to fill the empty space...

    Duh......
  • If it gives you pleasure and it's free to do why not do it. The great thing about writing is the more you do the better you get especially if you're also an avid reader. You may or may not be ready for publication now but a few years down the line who knows. If you've always been a writer my guess is you won't be able to stop for long.
  • You wouldn't stop playing the piano just because you we're never going to be a concert pianist, or drawing because you we're never going to be hung ins gallery, so why stop writing just because you will never be published? hey are all creative crafts which you need to do to fulfil part of yourself. I think writing is the only craft which people seem to find without value unless it is already sold.
  • Sorry about those mistakes, I'm writing on the iPad and it changes stuff without permission !
  • The ipad is a pain when it changes things without permission!
  • [quote=Tiny Nell]If you are a writer, you are a writer. You were born that way, so there's nothing you can do about it, I'm afraid![/quote]
    Sums it up well. My hobby is writing... my goal is publication.
    The uni course I have been doing has given me a better evaluation of my work. Join a group Alana or sign up for a course. If it's a hobby you'll enjoy it, in the meantime where is the harm in improving and getting honest feedback.
  • I thank everyone for their nice comments and support for my future of writing.
    I have a lot of hobbies but I know that I can sneak writing time back again into my present world. As really I don't want to give up fully. I can just say to myself now that "I've just had a long break". I can begin again!!!
    THANKS!!!
  • Always keep writing, Alana! Publishing isn't necessarily the best reward - sometimes, just writing for your own reading & satisfaction is just sublime therapy, something to get things out of your system, or a means to express your thoughts at that time.

    Keep plugging away at your target market, though - you just never know when that break will come, and in what form; it's just a matter of sizing up your target publication, produce something to fit in it, then directly approach the editor/publisher - it certainly worked for me!

    I've had quite a lot of articles and features published in magazines over the years - mostly in bulk between 1986 and 1994, then a trickle since then, whenever I've felt like contributing an article, as the opportunity pops up and to fulfil a specific role (like car & motorcycle shows and features, etc) - once establised, all I had to do was ring the editor(s) with a proposed article, and almost always got the nod to go ahead...but as always, you have to get that break in the first place, then build up a rapport with both editors and readers, I found...

    I'm doing another show article right now, for a bike show that took place this last weekend - and this time, I'm going to keep submitting as many more as the editor will take, as I need to save some extra cash!

    Time to shift up the gearbox a bit!
  • edited October 2012
    Alana, I write for pleasure mostly, but by chance, I was lucky enough to see an advert in the writer's magazine where a publisher was calling for submissions:- two years later, I have two published non-fiction books. But I still say it is a hobby. I get enormous pleasure from it. I'm a chatterbox by nature and writing for me is just an extension of this. It means my family get a rest from my incessant jabbering.
    I also find it is a release, especially when I'm troubled. Good stuff appears on paper then, but it can also be traumatic because it sometimes makes me feel exposed.

    So long as you enjoy it, don't worry if you haven't been published. When and if you're feeling a bit more confident, it's worth submitting work just for the experience if nothing else. Also, if your lucky enough to have a piece accepted, it is a massive confidence booster and can result in creative explosions everywhere...well it did for me :-)
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