[originaltext] Many a young person tells me he wants to be a writer. I alway

Many a young person tells me he wants to be a writer. I always encourage such people, but I also explain that there is a big difference between being a writer and writing. In most cases they are dreaming of wealth and fame, not the long hours alone at a typewriter. "You’ve got to want to write", I say to them, "not want to be a writer."
    The reality is that writing is a lonely, private and poor-paying affair. For every writer kissed by fortune there are thousands more whose works are never rewarded. When I left a 20-year career in the U.S. Coast Guard to become a freelance writer, I had no prospects at all. What I did have was a friend who found me my room in a New York apartment building. It didn’t even matter that it was cold and had no bathroom. I immediately bought a used typewriter and felt like a good writer.
    After a year I still hadn’t got a break and began to doubt myself. It was so hard to sell a story that barely made enough to eat. But I knew l wanted to write. I had dreamed about it for years. I wasn’t going to be one of those people who die wondering, what if? I would keep putting my dream to the test, even though it meant living with uncertainty and fear of failure. Anyone with a dream must learn to live there.