tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16166950.post2269208500032553687..comments2024-01-23T18:21:17.066+00:00Comments on Surroundings: Being 'A Writer'Robhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17046788730174617923noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16166950.post-19090046507969983992007-08-23T09:51:00.000+01:002007-08-23T09:51:00.000+01:00Jane, your experience reminds me of what it was li...Jane, your experience reminds me of what it was like playing in a band in Glasgow bars and clubs and turning up to find double-bookings, non-payments despite promises, and somehow there were all those megastars out there making millions...<BR/><BR/>I suppose it's like anything. If you make it big, you are automatically more glamorous, sexy and rich than if you don't. If that's what people want, I guess it's no more difficult to make it as a writer than it is with any other job. Rock stars, business people, politicians, rock stars - they all have to push their way to the top one way or another.<BR/><BR/>Mark, thanks for the Orwell. I liked this:<BR/><BR/>"Writing a book is a horrible, exhausting struggle, like a long bout of some painful illness. One would never undertake such a thing if one were not driven on by some demon whom one can neither resist nor understand. For all one knows that demon is simply the same instinct that makes a baby squall for attention. And yet it is also true that one can write nothing readable unless one constantly struggles to efface one's own personality."Robhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17046788730174617923noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16166950.post-74275042073904199162007-08-23T01:36:00.000+01:002007-08-23T01:36:00.000+01:00I think the allure of writing has got most to do w...I think the allure of writing has got most to do with sheer egoism: the urge to express something immutably and inextricablyyou, and to preserve it.<BR/><BR/>Orwell's observations:<BR/>http://www.k-1.com/Orwell/index.cgi/<BR/>work/essays/write.htmlMark Yoxonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17812793698673965488noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16166950.post-44509946926603918142007-08-23T01:33:00.000+01:002007-08-23T01:33:00.000+01:00This comment has been removed by the author.Mark Yoxonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17812793698673965488noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16166950.post-25742257821439565342007-08-22T21:33:00.000+01:002007-08-22T21:33:00.000+01:00It got me wondering what type of writer they aspir...It got me wondering what type of writer they aspire to be - certainly journalism seems to be a hugely popular choice of job with young people (unfortunately, most get disillusioned and leave pretty quick).Matt Merritthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12371656447328595720noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16166950.post-21801576126695331952007-08-22T21:04:00.000+01:002007-08-22T21:04:00.000+01:00Nothing easy about being a writer, as Jane points ...Nothing easy about being a writer, as Jane points out - there's the years of apprenticing that you do first before you even consider yourself fit to hold the pen!<BR/><BR/>Maybe it's the glamour *runs for cover*Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06280161801824435219noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16166950.post-8227492065285593812007-08-22T14:01:00.000+01:002007-08-22T14:01:00.000+01:00Yeah, it's great being a travelling minstrel. Pers...Yeah, it's great being a travelling minstrel. Personally, I'd like to be a 'paid' writer more than anything else. <BR/><BR/>I performed at what seemed like a respectably prominent gig earlier this year, mentioning no names, and the cheque I was given afterwards promptly bounced when I paid it into the bank. <BR/><BR/>The person behind this fiasco was sheepish and apologetic. He promised me another cheque asap, but it never arrived.<BR/><BR/>Thus the poet's life. <BR/><BR/>JxJane Hollandhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15590668593487445482noreply@blogger.com