Hello again, blog reader. Welcome back! For most people, there is a simple answer to the question in the title of this blog post - write! A lot of people say the mere fact you are putting pen to paper or pressing letters on a keyboard makes you an author. I don't think that is quite right. Now, before I go any further, I have to quantify this by saying it is only my own opinion and is limited to books. I'm not trying to say this is how it should be, merely that it is a standard to which I hold myself. I'm sure many people will see this differently, but here goes. I've always had the idea of an Author in my mind. People like JRR Tolkien, Terry Pratchett, Robert Jordan, JK Rowling, Sophie Kinsella and Milly Johnson, to name a few, but I think there are specific criteria for being described as an Author. Firstly, yes you should be writing. Nobody ever became an author without first writing things down. Spinning those idle flights of fancy and sudden inspirations into words on a page takes effort and skill, and simply put - the whole point of the endeavour. Cat owners rejoice! My acronym for this is PURR - Practice - The more writing you do, the better at it you will become Understand - the more you research your story components, the better you will become Repeat - the more often you write, the better you will become Replicate- the more you read, the better you will become Secondly, you should have at least one of your pieces of work out in the world for the consumption of the public (preferably for sale, but not always). Being a serial loner and generally antisocial, this is the bit I struggle with most of all - getting work out into the world. Will they like it? Is it good enough? Will it sell? All doubts and self-deceptions which you shouldn't listen to or at least must try to suppress as best you can. Finally, and this is the crucial bit for my theory, you should have a modicum of success. Lots of people should have read your work, purchased it, talked about it, enjoyed it, etc. I'm not talking number 1 bestseller for weeks and weeks. If you can make a living from doing it, or have done in the past, then I think you are about there.
It's this final step which really makes the difference for me. A lot of people believe being self-published on Amazon because they have managed to string three or four pages of text together, makes them an author. I have no problem with people doing this. Everybody should be proud to show the effort they have put into a piece of work and have the ability to put that work out into the wider world. I just don't think they are authors. So far I still would only call myself a writer. I have the two blogs, a self-published novel on Amazon, a half-written second book under construction and a folder with several others to start once this one is complete (in varying stages from thoroughly planned to a fundamental rough idea) I call myself a writer happily. It gives me a lot of pleasure to put my thoughts down in text and even more to think someone else may be gleaning a little enjoyment out of it too, and I would like nothing more than to spend all day writing. But one day, I would like to be an Author.
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Craig BoldyBorn in South Yorkshire, he lives there with his wife and Labrador. Working a normal 9-5 while filling his nights with writing. Categories
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November 2018
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