When I grow up…

I have a strong desire to be the next creative visionary who writes massive novels that get swallowed up by the public in huge swarms. I want to be “that guy” who has the ability to tell great stories and is able to convey that through the written word. The “novelist” is a dream job for many people because it allows them to be creative, and they don’t have other people (except for your agent and editor) clawing at your back trying to change your story. The solitude and non-team work of working on a creative project is thrilling to me; in essence, it’s just me and my world–Not me, the producer, my boss, my investor all working to create something. Sure, this lack of cooperation with others sounds rather, well, negative, but having the ability to field your creative energies in their entirety in a work is intoxicating: Only in the publishing world can you really claim that a book that you’ve written is actually your own work as a whole. It’s you, the author, that wrote it.

Of course, the life long position of a novelist also has some other benefits: He or she gets to work straight out of his or her home. The novelist gets to wear whatever he wants to work. The hours are entirely flexible. With a good New York Times Bestselling quality book, some authors really don’t have to work on a lot of creative projects: Their royalty checks give some good life cushioning. This is not without saying that getting noticed in the publishing world–heck, getting published to begin with–is incredibly difficult. From there, it is even more difficult to have the public latch onto your book and absorb it in massive quantities (J.K. Rowling’s books, for example, are read like they are necessity in life. They are fictional food for the brain).

Everybody says that being a novelist is impossible. Well, I’ve also had everybody tell me that climbing the career ladder in business, film, telecommunications, communications, education (instruction and administrative), law, theater, science, and so many more is also impossible. According to everybody, everything in life is impossible. So, why not want to be a novelist?