sweet obscenity @writeme - Tumblr Blog

Hello Mister Gaiman,

First, I want to thank you for making me like to read again. I really love your books.

My friend dreams to become an author but she doubts a lot and is scared because it's not a steady job for a beginner. Do you have any advices against this fear ?

Thank you in advance for any advices you could give her.

Being an author is not a steady job for anyone.

Long long ago I went into my old school for a careers evening. All the people with real jobs were in the main hall, the accountants and hotel administrators and such. I was in a little classroom off to the side, with a jazz musician and an actor, and every now and again kids and their parents would come into our room and ask us questions about our jobs. I remember one mother who marched her son over to me and said, "Johnny wants to know if there's a lot of job security as a freelance writer." I told her there wasn't , and if that was what they were after, they needed to be in the main hall.

But your friend doesn't have to start out as an author. Most authors have day jobs to begin with. (I had a day job, even if my day job was being a freelance writer.) You get to write books while doing the steady job. (Terry Pratchett would come home from work every night and write 400 words. His job was press officer for the Electricity Board.)

So tell your friend not to be afraid, to get on with her life, and to write. She'll be fine.