Living Happily as a Writer and a Friend by Radine Trees Nehring
In times past some writers got into "the business" because they thought they'd make a lot of money. I have one friend who, early on, said she wanted to become a writer so she could quit her day job. She eventually understood there must be other reasons for writing, and has become active in a friendly, supportive critique group. Nothing published yet. She still holds that day job with no plans to quit, but, my-oh-my she enjoys writing and the friends she has made in her group. I may not be typical, but I began writing because I loved spilling ideas out on paper (using a typewriter ). I was a mature adult with a full time job and no aspirations or ideas about how one got work published. However, when I submitted my first essay to an international newspaper, "The Christian Science Monitor," for their Home Forum page, they bought it immediately. When "Where Hummingbirds Matter" appeared in print, accompanied by a lovely art print of a hummingbir...