The Book Dream

It seems that writing a book is the dream of many that few actually end up doing as they grossly underestimate their writing abilities. Perhaps the reason why most people want to write a book is because they think it'll be a financial success; not realizing that some full time writers struggle to find success. 

Writing is a skill!

Like signing, dancing, metalworking... writing is a skill that needs to be worked on. You can't just wake up one day and decide that you'll write a book and expect that it'll be successful. If a full time writer isn't able to live off of his work then hobbyists writers should rethink their goals or start giving it the attention that it deserves rather than treat it as a side project.

I'm not trying to discourage anyone from writing books. If this is one of your future goals, start working towards it even if it's only by reading the dictionary in order to expand your vocabulary. Write a few pages now, see where your skills are at and work on it. What I would hate to see is for someone to wait until they're in their 50s to start writing their book only to realize that they don't have the skills necessary to do it justice and may no longer have enough time to learn it.

It's not as easy as most people think that it is. Remember that while most people can write few can write books without prior dedication to the artform. A book is also not a guaranteed financial gain and not something that should be relied upon as a form of retirement income. 

“Either write something worth reading, or do something worth writing [about].

-Benjamin Franklin

If its your dream then give it the priority it requires.