Of course Disraeli was a novelist - on the side - in his spare time

Sarah

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'Before and during his political career, Disraeli was well-known as a literary and social figure, although his novels are not generally regarded as a part of the Victorian literary canon. He mainly wrote romances, of which Sybil and Vivian Grey are perhaps the best-known today. He was and is unusual among British Prime Ministers for having gained equal social and political renown.'

Wikipaedia

He was and is unusual among British Prime Ministers for having gained equal social and political renown.'

And for having a Jewish background. The Kennedys did the social thing, but US hasn't managed that yet.

Emma

I'm not sure if I was thinking of the 'never complain' or the 'never apologise' version, but I take it back that it's good for most of us in most situations. Not sure why I said that really!

I think in some situations it's a good strategy - better than falling over yourself to explain or apologise for something when it's not really necessary.

Deb

I find the way people react to me 'being a writer' very interesting. When I was doing an MA in writing, telling other students what I studied was a big conversation killer! People went 'OH,' then went quiet for a bit, then had one of two responses. Either they a) became apologetic, as in 'You must be so imaginative, I could never do that. I know I really ought to be more creative, but... (etc.)' or b) got chippy and resentful, as in 'Well, some of us don't have time for that, we do proper degrees'. Writing children's literature was even worse. Some guy I was acquainted with at university came to my house for a drink, sat on my sofa, and asked with a sneer 'So why do you write kiddy lit, then?' (Wanker - I still hate him ).
I find all these reactions quite bizarre. If I met a bus driver, I wouldn't say 'Wow, you must be really good in traffic, I know I should learn to drive, but I failed my test three times and (etc.)'. I don't meet teachers and say 'Why do you bother doing that job? Your students are all going to turn out crap anyway, huh, look at the state of the country (etc.)' But people find writing challenging. They find people doing artistic things challenging. Especially in the UK. I find that, where I have lived on the continent, it is far more acceptable to have some creative ambition. For example, my boyfriend's parents live in a very rural area of Italy. In this impoverished backwater (it's a bit like a rural part of Wales or Yorkshire), they organise an artists' club which includes around twenty relatively accomplished sculptors, painters and other creative people. The club members' day jobs include administration and being a rep for Findus. They're not rich or particularly posh, they just do creative stuff and it's not seen as weird or presumptuous. In the UK, by contrast, even artists (I use the word to include all 'creative practicioners' seem to be ashamed of being artists. In Belgium, too, it seems to be much more acceptable to be artistic, to talk art as well as make it.

I don't actually think I have been taken more seriously by people in general since I got a book deal. I took my proof copy to an event some time ago (our book group had a booth there). A couple of people I got talking to assumed my book was a self-publication and were rather dismissive until realising it wasn't. One American women asked where it was being published. 'Britain', I said. 'Only Britain?' she asked, evidently not impressed.

One of the other students on my MA in Writing course told some random person she met in a taxi that she was studying 'Writing'. They burst into laughter. "What, handwriting? Don't you, like, learn that at primary school?'


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the vast majority of published authors can't give up the day job

That's for damn sure. What being a writer means to me is slogging all day at a physically exhausting, highly stressful and badly-paid job (bookseller), and then coming home and, instead of going to the cinema or out for a drink or any of the normal things people do, sitting down and writing for the evening. And on days off? I write.

How were you treated before and after you were published, by friends, co-workers, etc.

Well, my friends and family were / are delighted and chuffed by it - oddly, far more than me as it turns out

The only negative experience I've had so far was from another member of a writing group I'd recently joined, who, when learning that it was a non-fiction book, turned to the group and advised everyone that "having non-fiction published is so much easier than fiction" - which may well be true of course, but did make me smile a bit!

It’s very interesting hearing about the negatives of being a published author from those of you who have been published. It makes one wonder why so many people want to be published authors. The rewards don’t equal the work required to become one. Plus, you set yourself up as a target for any person who wants to throw a dart at you. (For whatever reason.)

It reminds me of that (story about life) story about riding on a train, waiting for that one grand moment, when you arrive at the train station where the band will be playing and the crowd cheering. But, you never quite arrive, or if you do arrive at the station, the band and crowd are not there.

It’s depressing, but that’s how it is for most published authors, is my guess. There are those few who do finally make it to the train station where the band is playing, but that’s not you or me is it?

Of course, some will say those are the wrong reasons to write a novel, but I don’t believe them. All writers want the whole author fame-and-glory package. That’s why so many people want to be authors.

As for myself, I have read a lot during my lifetime, and I wanted to write one book of my very own, but just one. I should be done with it in about a year. I’m coming to the realization that it is more fun reading books than writing them. I plan to get off this train when I finish this one.

Azel

The trouble is, Azel, it sort of worms into your soul. Before my book was published, it was a kind of abstract, intangiable goal - a 'life target' if you like. Now I've done it once, my mind tells me I want to do it again. And who am I to argue?

So the very, very best of good luck with your book - but here's betting that once you've done it once, you'll do it all over again

All writers want the whole author fame-and-glory package.

Well maybe when I was young enough to burn the candle at both ends, but I'll leave that for the more energetic amongst us. I'm rather with Doris Lessing on this one, and would probably say 'Oh, bugger' it it ever happened to me.

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- not that I'm comparing myself to Lessing in any literary sense, you undestand :) Just in the old and cantankerous sense. Ok, maybe less of the old...I should probably shut up now. ;)

Being a published author
Positives -

* 'I've had a book published' - right, that's one of my major life goals ticked off (got travel round the world and set up an animal sanctuary still to go, along with some others

* I get fan-email from people who've struggled with learning to drive and maybe even given up and say that my book turned things around for them and now they've passed their test - so I've actually had a practical impact on someone's life.

* Have had positive feedback from the driver-training industry (more ego-stroking).

* Friends and family have been really positive and supportive

* It's given me more credibility as a writer (am aready a journalist) - I now run Path to Publication courses at Bristol University, have been speaking at Lit Fests (Ilkley, Warwick Words, Daphne du Maurier etc) - plugs you into that whole scene. Also given my journalism profile a bit of a boost.

Negatives

* I've tried to cut down on it, but am often driven by mad compulsion to track down my book in any bookshop I visit and put it face-outwards. If it's not stocked, the pain I experience is considerable!

* People, even total strangers feel they can ask you how much you earn from your writing (I don't mind and am v upfront about the size of my first two advances (10K each) but I can see how it might rankle!

Yep, that's about it - so overall, a positive experience!

all best

Maria

I don't think being a published author is remotely depressing. Money and fame in themselves should never be the singular goal, and if they are, I can't help but propose that one is always going to be disheartened - even if and when they achieve it!

Most published authors - indeed most writers - learn early on that their art isn't going to bring them riches, or get them onto prime time TV. I think the drive for the real artist transcends those bounds by quite a bit actually, so my advice to anyone is to focus on the art itself and make that the crowd and the band. Isn't that the point?

JB

Good point, JB.

I think, too, that calling success 'the fame-and-glory package' misses the point. What we want - the reason we do it - is to be read. To communicate and know that we're heard, to have an audience for what we want to say. Of course I'm pleased to get an appreciative email through my website from a stranger, to have a big audience for festival gig, to get a PLR payout which says my book gets borrowed a lot (here's hoping!). But that's only ego-massage in the way that an actor's ego is massaged by the rapt silence of an audience and the outburst of cheers at the end, or a sculptor sees passers-by stop and look and walk round their piece. It proves that what I do is something that moves and engages people, which is what I want to do.

Even a <crosses fingers> big advance is only partly about the relief of paying off debts, or having a summer holiday for the first time in years, or even - oooh - buying something I don't strictly need. It's also about lots of booktrade people loving my book, and thinking enough of the world at large will too that we'll make the money back.

Fame-and-glory might be nice, I don't know. As we've seen, even the first step - getting published - isn't without its drawbacks, so presumably greater success would have its particular drawbacks too. The point surely is that it's incidental. We might fine-tune our writing according to what we see being liked, but none of us can change your fundamental writing nature. In the end you write what you write, and what comes to you (or doesn't) as a result isn't the point.

Emma

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We might fine-tune our writing according to what we see being liked, but none of us can change our fundamental writing nature.

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The other point is that fame-and-glory take up very few hours of the day, or days of the year. For most of your working life, it's you and the screen or the notebook. Yes, you may face it with more confidence, or less, but however much coming out into the limelight you do, in the end you have to go home in the rain and write.

I'm a bit unusual because writing IS my day job (I work three mornings a week for a charity, but I get most of my money from writing).

For me, the reaction has been very positive. People ask me what I do at parties, i say 'I write children's books' they go 'Ooh, really? wow! I've always wanted to do that!'

OK, then it takes half an hour to explain that the book's not out yet and to listen to them ask me if their series about talking pencils has market value, but still.

My family has also been really supportive. I rang my mother up when i was wondering what to do with my life and said 'um ... i haven't found a career yet, but i've found this ma in writing for children' fully expecting her to laugh at me. Instead she turned round and said 'ooh, your nursery teacher always said you should be an author!' and took it for granted that that's what i was going to do.

i do get people asking if i'm going to be the new JK rowling or if the book's anything like harry potter. it was also very frustrating when i was writing - people would say things like 'is it out yet?' and i'd have to explain over and over exactly how slim the chances of it ever being published were.

but most of my friends are weirdly proud of me and go around boasting about me to their family and work mates.

My favourite version of that quote is from Benjamin Jowett:

Never retreat. Never explain. Get it done and let them howl.

Dee

I wonder what it is about being a writer that has the WOW factor. When people widen their eyes at me, when i say i've written two novels, i usually reply well, it's like anything, you can do what you enjoy - i can't play tennis or chess or write screenplays because i don't enjoy any of those things. I find it surprising that a midwife friend of mine thinks writing is special, just look at what she does.

Yeah, it's strange, isn't it? I think there's a societal amazement at any kind of job which is solitary and self-disciplined - which doesn't involve others. Gives it a kind of aura of mystery and oddness. And I think a lot of people see writing as something they 'had' to do at school, and cannot imagine being able to write a whole novel.
Susiex