Russell Kirkpatrick's Journal
What's it Like to be a Writer?
10-Jun-2008
I often get asked this question. Those asking seem to think I'll tell them about the glamour, the fame and the fortune.
Well, there's none of the first, little of the second and intermittent amounts of the third.
There's no glamour. I'm constantly thinking about the story: everything I see, everyone I encounter, is potential story fodder. (Of course, you're other things too!) The act of writing hurts - I have tendonitis in both arms.
There's a little fame. A couple of weeks ago I flew down to Christchurch: the guy in the seat next to me was reading a fantasy novel. Eventually he asked me what I did. I gave him the list: lecturer, map maker, author. 'You're not Russell Kirkpatrick, are you?' he asked, and proceeded to tell me how much he liked my books ... that's fame. But everyone else I've met has no idea who I am - and nor should they.
Fortune depends on so many things, not just book sales. What sort of contract you have, what your annual output is like, how promptly you get paid - I have one large contract already 18 months overdue. You get paid once every six months, and when the payment arrives it's already more than nine months and up to fifteen months after the fact.
Do I love it? Yes.
Hope it's better soon. Cool about the guy on the plane. Woot!