"Only by creating an enduring character can a writer entertain thoughts of a literary career." Robert McCrum
Robert McCrum's excellent article in the Guardian at the weekend rang home with me. He said that "Despite the received wisdom of the book trade, writers don't have careers in the conventional sense. Each book emerges from a private imaginative landscape. But that's not a career, more a succession of leaps in the dark." How true that is! McCrum says that "ideally the writer works only for him, or herself, on their own terms. They have no boss." And that all a writer can do is "put one book in front of the last, and go back to the empty page or vacant screen." "Every fresh start feels like an outrageous gamble against impossible odds." Even if you are published, as I am, and are fortunate enough to have a book contract how do you know if the market and critics will love it? How do you know that your next book will be accepted? You don't. But McCrum says that if writers don't have careers, their heroes certainly do. ...