Monday, August 24, 2009

If you want to be a Successful Writer then be prepared to Struggle

I know it from my own experience and after reading the lives of many great writers. Do you know Charles Dickens? He suffered a lot in life- especially in early life. It was not his fault that he was born in a poor family. In fact, he had very small scope to study. He had to earn money from a very early age. Dickens tried his best to learn from life. Yes, he learnt a lot from his experience in London. So, he could write about the people with uncanny ability and very few writers can match with him in this regard. Of course, Shakespeare can match with him and then, William Shakespeare was a poet and dramatist who struggled a lot in his own life too. He came to London and tried his luck in drama and it was not that easy at first.

This is the thing you must remember if you want to be a wrier. Of course, if you come from a well off family then you are lucky. However, in that case, you have to struggle in another way- you have to work hard. You have to dedicate a lot for writing. Perhaps this is reason that many rich people do not become successful in this field. Either way, you have to try a lot. For example, I am writing something here. If I and some of my friends and relatives read it then it has no value. I have to reach to a wider audience and it does not come easily.

Saturday, August 22, 2009

E-book Readers Becoming Popular

To be honest with you, I do most of my reading in computer and Internet. I do not read any printed newspapers of books anymore. In fact, I read all the newspapers from their web sites and also when I want to read in English book, most of the time I can find it in different web sites at free of cost. So, the amount of reading materials available in Internet is huge. The only problem that I am facing is that reading to monitor does not bring comfort and sometimes it brings a lot of discomfort for the eyes. So, I’m sure that many people like me suffer the same way and they now feel great when they can read the text by E-book Readers like Amazon Kindle.

Sony has also introduced an e-book reader. The market of this kind of reader is only growing. PC world has published an Excellent article about this: The Pros and Cons of Buying E-Books

You should read it.

Absolute Write Blog Chain for August 2009

Absolute Write is a forum for freelance writers. Membership is free and I have been there since February 2006. So, it is a long time that I am there. One of the things that I enjoy a lot is blog chain in which some members participate and talk about something and link each other. Well, I am participating in Blog Chain in the current month and you can find my entry there: Where to Find Inspirations for Writing?

If you want to be a writer then this entry can be helpful for you. Also, you can find the list of participating members there. You can read some other blogs too.

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Is money Important for a Writer?

This is a question that perhaps goes in the mind of any person who wants to be a writer? In the past, I used to think this question is only for people like me living in third world countries like Bangladesh. Here, earning money through writing is very difficult. First of all, the payment by most newspapers and magazines is inadequate and irregular. May be there is an exception or two but exception is not rule. Now, I know that the same kind of uncertainty exists in USA too. Still, there is no shortage of people like me who are dying to become a writer. I wonder why do we care to become writers when we know that it is a field with financial uncertainty?

On the other hand, in our daily life, we need money for everything. No matter how much we try, we cannot escape this reality unless you come from a very rich family. So, money is very important for everyone including a writer. I think that the problem is many people tend to think that writing and money are two different things. I do not agree with them. My idea is that you have to make adjustments in your life in every job. You have to try to earn money by using your skill. The same way, in writing, you cannot always write what you like or want. For example, if I could I would just write short stories every day. However, until now, I could write only 4-5 short stories in the last one decade. Instead, I had to most of the time write for newspapers on business and computer related topics and then for the last 3 and half years, I have been blogging full time on different topics.

This is my literature blog but I hardly can update it because it does not bring money. In fact, earning money through a literature blog is extremely difficult. So, I have to make some adjustments. Well, what I have is the dream that may be someday, I can give a lot of time for this blog.

For the last few days, I have got an idea to publish a serial novel in this blog. The basic idea is that once a week, I would update some parts of a novel. This way, I do not need to give a lot of time but the readers can have something. Anyway, this is possible when I have some regular readers. Hopefully, it will happen soon.

Sunday, August 09, 2009

Why anyone wants to be a Writer?

This is surely a question that comes to the mind of many people in this world. From my childhood, I dreamt of writing. Of course, I wanted to be a journalist rather than a novelist or playwright. I dreamt that I would write in my own language not in English. Now, in the end, I have become a blogger instead of becoming a writer or journalist. Anyway, why I wanted to be a writer?

Both my parents were journalists when I was born and may be it is something genetic in me. Secondly, the thing that inspired me a lot was the writings of some great writers like Charles Dickens and George Orwell. There are some short stories, some poems, some novels, some dramas and some essays that have become an integral part of my soul, my existence. I dream that someday I can write like Dickens. I dreamt that someday, I could write Orwell. The dramas, poems, short stories, essays and novels have perhaps defined who I would become in life. They have influenced my thinking and personality.

I always feel amazed to read some novels like Keep the Aspidistra Flying of Orwell and A Christmas Carroll of Dickens. It does not matter to me that Keep the Aspidistra Flying is not a popular novel or it did not receive that much praise from the critics. Not only that, even Orwell did not think of the novel so highly. It does not matter to me and it is none of my business. What is important to me is that I like it. I find it entertaining. I feel that there is something to enjoy in it and learn some lessons from it.

I am lucky to be born in the age of Internet because thanks to blogging, writing can be a full time employment at last. It is tough. It is not that I can write short stories and earn money. I wish that I could do that. I have to write about business, technology and even about sports. Still, I love to write and type with my computer.

I really don’t know about others but I know that I love to read and write.

Hobby Economist