This morning I was thinking about the various occupations available within the literary industry and how cool it would be to wake up and be a paid part of that world.
Isn't that what we're really doing as bloggers after all? Being a part of this world that we love but don't get a W2 or 1099 form from.
As a voracious reader, the question I get most often is as I'm sure you guys do too, "would you ever want to write your own book?" My answer is NO! I've never had a desire to be a writer. I know that I'm not clever or creative enough to write anything even remotely entertaining. I am perfectly happy to be a reader and a reviewer. What I would have *loved* to be (and shame on me for figuring this out wayyyy too late) is an Editor. I love grammar and I love the review process. Whenever I read a book, whether written by a debut author or a seasoned writer, I always "grade" it in my head using an imaginary red pen ;) That's what I really love!
So if you could have ANY job in the literary/book industry, what would YOU be?
Librarian! Seriously I don't want to write, edit, or do any of the business side....
ReplyDeleteBut give me a job where I put books in the hands of people they match ....I would be in HEAVEN.
It's never too late chick! If you want to be an editor! Work for it and DO IT!
ReplyDeleteA writer.... I've always wanted to write. I am constantly coming up with ideas, and jotting them down but haven't actually finished one of them - bad me! My goal is to finish one of them!
ReplyDeleteI think you would be an amazing editor!!
Me? A writer? It never crossed my mind, until last year that is, when I was sitting around bored silly with a story in my head. I've always told my kids you can do and be whatever you want, just go for it!
ReplyDeleteI would love to be a writer. Ever since I was a little kid starting to read, I wanted to make up stories of my own and see them in print. Now I'm a little more realistic: I'm a combined biology/English major in college, so if the whole pre-med/doctor route doesn't fall through, maybe I'll try being a writer after all :)
ReplyDeleteI agree with Angeline. It's never too late to do what you want to do.
ReplyDeleteI think for me, there was a time I wanted to be a writer, but then I later figure out I didn't have what it takes. I get good ideas in my head but when it comes to putting them down on paper, not so much. I would love to be involved in the business though maybe by being a publicist, getting the word out, which I sort of do now anyways as a blogger.
I'm going to turn 36 years old this summer and I just figured out last year what I want to do with my life. Since then, I've enrolled in an online college creative writing program, interned with an online publisher as a copy editor, have done freelance copy editing, and now have enough experience and knowledge to move up in the editing chain. Don't ever give up on your dreams because it really isn't too late! :)
ReplyDeleteI've known since I was 4 years old what I wanted to do... yep, I wanted to be into books in a big way. But it wasn't until I was 6 when teachers at school taught us to write that the full circle, the spell was complete... the whole enchilada was made obvious! I wanted to be a writer!!!! :D
ReplyDeleteThis single-minded attitude drove my parents nuts. They told me that writers were poor until they were discovered... writers had nothing but their stories and books and writings; and if they didn't make it the world before they died, they had nothing to contribute but their works. And what use was their money if they weren't around. That didn't matter to me, entertaining the world and taking people on magical carpet rides through the pages of a book was the amazing part of being a writer... knowing the meaning between their, there and they're (as well as knowing how to spell them too!) was huge to me. It was a big thing for me know my grammar and spelling and how to edit and how to work my way through a Roget's Thesaurus from 1969 was something that my classmates hated about me.
By the time I hit high school, I had read every book there was in the non-fiction section in my local library about publishing and writing. I knew how to get publish and what I needed to know. However it was something that I found the hardest to do. I sent my work away and received many, many rejection letters. In Australia, it is so much harder to get published than anywhere else in the world; and the strange thing is that agents don't know writers until they fall over them...
I haven't given up now (as I'm 38 now and my books are still not on the shelves of bookstores). But what I do now is write for the sheer joy of writing and entertaining... as you see if I hang up my pens/keyboard, I can't sleep. It's like an audience of people running around in my head nagging me about story ideas, dialogue, narrative... and that I should be doing what pleases me. And you know? Writing pleases me. It not only makes me happy, but it helps me sleep at night and keeps my mind clear.
I am a writer (as maddening as it is to be one) and I love it.
My first choice would be a PAID book reviewer (is that an oxymoron?). If that wasn't available, I would be a bookshop owner or librarian. The thought of being around books all the time and sharing my book enthusiasm with others totally floats my boat!
ReplyDeleteBeth :-)
Ha!!! I LOVE IT dude! And you SHOULD DO IT!
ReplyDeleteEasy yo...I'd design covers. ;) actually I'd TELL people how to design the covers.
OR
I'd be the 'idea chick' you know what I mean? I TOTALLY do not have the patience to WRITE a book, not the actual TALENT to do so. But i have ALL kinds of ideas!
OR
Marketing (spelling? I'm SURELY NO editor) but I can sell sex to the dead. No joke. ;)
Editor - all the way! That's my biggest aspiration. You know how much I love grammar. ;]
ReplyDeleteI would like to be a writer but then again I'm a perfectionist so my book would be a perpetual work in progress. I also like to write at random times so I think maybe it would be better if I was a dictator and someone else actually did the physical writing :). I would like to be an editor but the perfectionist part would win out and I would just keep editing things over and over and over again.....
ReplyDeleteBeing a perfectionist is both a blessing and a curse I guess :)
I have absolutely no desire to write either.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure what job I would like.
Probably something to do with cover design.
I feel the same way as you. I would never want to be a writer, I have always said I hate writing. But I would love to be an editor. Even as a kid I was the "red pen" person all my classmates went to before they handed in their assignments.
ReplyDeleteI love me some reading and grammar-can't you tell?? I would LOVE to be an editor!! BUT NEVER A WRITER-PURE TORTURE! :)
ReplyDeleteShannon
http://www.extremereadingandwriting.wordpress.com