|
Many a young person tells me he wants to be a writer. I always __1__ such people, but I also explain that theresa big difference between being a writer and writing. In most cases these individuals are dreaming of __2__ and fame, notthe long hours alone at a typewriter. Youve got to want to write, I say to them, not want to be a writer.The reality is that writing is a __3__, private and poor-paying affair. For every writer kissed by fortune there arethousands more whose longing is never __4__. When I left a 20-year career in the US. Coast Guard to become a freelancewriter, I had no __5__ at all. What I did have was a friend who found me my room in a New York apartment building. It didnt even matter that it was __6__and had no bathroom. I immediately bought a used manual typewriter and feltlike a __7__ writer.After a year or so, however, I still hadnt gotten a break and began to __8__ myself. It was so hard to sell a storythat __9__ made enough to eat. But I knew I wanted to write. I had dreamed about it for years. I wasnt going to be one ofthose people who die wondering, what if? I would keeo putting my dream to the test----even though it meant living with __10__and fear of failure. This is the Shadow land of hope, and anyone with a dream learn to live there. A) barely B) genuine C) rewarded D) doubt E) lonely F) poverty G) persuade | 
