I didn't respond to the last part of the poll because my reasoning goes beyond being read ... I want to be published by someone who accepts the story for what it is rather than someone willing to mold it to fit a specific target market or whatever. And money? If I were to get the equivalent of my current job's one year salary on my first book, that would be awesome - because I could at least justify quitting my job to write full time for a year ;)
As a technical writer, I may have published more books than most professional authors, they just don't get read most of the time and they're not really fiction. (Arguably, I also write more fiction than most authors, but that's another issue.)
I worked for a long time writing user's guides for a PC maker, I'm paraphrasing my wife when I say I wrote the books no one reads. They certainly weren't written for entertainment.
That said, I don't write to be read, I write for a paycheck, but I'm not emotionally invested in what I write.
In what I write for work, which I should separate from what I write outside of work, everything I write must be reviewed for accuracy, completeness, and to conform to the neuroses of the people I work with. I learned long ago that if I got emotionally attached to it, I would get my soul shredded regularly by people who can't write a coherent sentence with a guide and six coaches.
I write outside of work primarily for my own amusement. Sure, I'd like to be the next best-selling author, but I figured out that I won't make it as an author, until I actually write for publication. I have a ton of other interests and I simply haven't felt the need to dedicate myself to writing at that level.
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2011-02-03 04:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-02-03 06:30 pm (UTC)That said, your reasoning is pretty much what I was referring to in the poll. To be read...as I have written..sic.
no subject
Date: 2011-02-03 05:11 pm (UTC)I worked for a long time writing user's guides for a PC maker, I'm paraphrasing my wife when I say I wrote the books no one reads. They certainly weren't written for entertainment.
That said, I don't write to be read, I write for a paycheck, but I'm not emotionally invested in what I write.
no subject
Date: 2011-02-03 06:28 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-02-04 04:59 pm (UTC)I write outside of work primarily for my own amusement. Sure, I'd like to be the next best-selling author, but I figured out that I won't make it as an author, until I actually write for publication. I have a ton of other interests and I simply haven't felt the need to dedicate myself to writing at that level.