by Megan Hart

Created on: January 24, 2010

So, you want to be an author. Maybe you spent your childhood scribbling away in notebooks while the other kids were busy playing cops and robbers. Maybe the bookcases in your house are filled three-deep and overflowing, and you still have a stack of books by your bed in your “to-be-read” pile. You love telling stories, making worlds, crafting plots and characters and sending them through their lives. Yet the desire to become an author and the actual effort to sit down and write a book can be as far apart as the earth from the sun. (It can feel like even farther!) So here’s the push to get you started, the impetus that just might get you going.

The benefits to being an author:

1. You can do it anywhere. At home, on the bus, at your desk at the office (if your boss doesn’t catch you!), in the bathtub, on a plane, on a train, in a box and even, if you’re so inclined, with a fox. Sure, some locations are more beneficial to writing than others, but really, it’s a completely portable occupation. If you’re not physically writing, you can certainly be plotting and doing character development. Writing is really something you carry with you all the time.

2. You don’t need a lot of fancy, specialized equipment. Yes, modern authors usually work on computers, whether they’re desktop or laptop, and yes, you can absolutely spend thousands of dollars on office equipment, but in reality, all you need is some paper and something to write with. Writing by hand might take longer, but it can be done. Working on that old and stuttering laptop that doesn’t connect wirelessly to the internet might feel like you’re back in the 1990s, but you can still use it.

3. You don’t need an expensive, impressive education. It is important for authors to know how to use proper grammar, spelling and punctuation, because contrary to what some people believe, fixing “all of that” is not the editor’s job. It’s also important to understand how to plot a well-constructed story and create believable characters, but while you can take a plethora of classes in how to write, the bottom line is that you can do it…or you can’t. No degree from any school is going to write the story for you, and while education can certainly help you hone your skills, so will reading and writing, two pastimes you can pursue for free.

4. You can be your own boss. True, once you start getting published you’ll have deadlines and publisher requirements, and you’ll probably have an editor or two with their own ideas of what kinds of stories they want to see. The beauty of all that is, you don’t have to write for anyone you don’t want to. You don’t have to write romance novels if the thought makes your lip curl; you don’t need to write newspaper articles if you shudder at the idea of who, what, when, where, how and why. As an author, you choose your subject matter, the format in which you want to present it, and to a large extent, the timeline in which you’re going to do it.

5. And finally, the best benefit to being an author is being able to do what you love and make a living at it. Whether you’re more of a hobbyist or you’re aiming for the best-seller lists, if writing is your passion, then all of the other benefits pale in comparison.

There are downsides to being an author as well. Bad reviews, writer’s block and rejections can definitely sour the experience. In the end, however, being able to do what you love is a great equalizer for even the worst review.

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