The “Worth” Of (Your) Writing

Posted on by R. J. Nello

Thanksgiving is now gone (for which some may be quite thankful) for another year…

And if you write, you may have gotten the “3rd degree.” That led me to offer a “thread” on Twitter in response to that tweet. Since only about “six” people read my (still very new) Twitter, I thought I’d note it here – the center of my authoring universe! – too.

My experience is family is unlikely to be supportive. Like it or not, our world measures worth largely by an activity’s ability to put a roof over our head. If writing does not, it’s a hobby…

My (now late, crime novelist) uncle DID put a roof over his head writing. Yet my mom and grandma were often STILL on at him over it. It was such a “weird” and “uncertain” way to earn a living – and that’s being polite. Thanksgivings were often hilarious:

[Excerpt from Frontiers: Atlantic Lives, 1995-1996, Copyright, 2014. On Kindle for iPhone/iPad. Click to expand.]

“Everyone writes books now”: In an innocent and not nasty way, an elderly aunt said that to me a few years back. In a way, she was right. I do make some money doing this, but not enough honestly to call it a job.

[My study door. Potton, England. Photo by me, October 2019.]

Therefore, it is a hobby. I don’t expect family to be supportive of it as a hobby any more than I would if I collected stamps or spent time with model trains. So I don’t talk about it with family.

If I ever do earn “lots” of money, well, writing will then have a “true” worth on some level to them. But I suppose, as it was for my uncle, it might still be “weird” and “uncertain.”

In fact, many of my family have no idea I write books. I also use some of them as character/story inspirations. So I’m HAPPY those who may know about them are also uninterested in my books. Long may their ignorance and disinterest continue! I don’t want them reading my books! LOL!

[Excerpt from Distances: Atlantic Lives, 1996-1997, Copyright, 2015. On Kindle for iPhone/iPad. Click to expand.]

And if some of them who don’t know about them now ever do read them (“That’s me I’m sure, you sneaky b-stard!”), I may at a future Thanksgiving table get cranberry sauce thrown at me. LOL!

Happy weekend, wherever you are. 🙂