Sloan Wilson Quotes

Writing doesn't leave much time for hobbies, unless you consider that I began writing as a hobby and have made the hobby into a profession.

I've been a writer for 42 years and, yes, it is a full time job for me. Not a hobby, but serious work.

I love telling stories and I love writing so the fact that I can do it professionally is something that I've always been very grateful for.

A professional writer is an amateur who didn't quit.

Let's be clear - for people like me, who are obsessed with story and for whom words are their medium, writing is the best job possible. I work hard, but I earn more than the national average wage while I play with my imagination, and for me, that's a dream.

What I really, really love is writing. If I can just write and make a really nice living out of that, why would I change that?

Even if I couldn't get my early novels published, I could still write. I went into newspapers, where I got paid to write every day. If there's a better school for would-be novelists, I don't know what it is.

At this stage, my chief professional goal is simply to keep on writing and making a living at it.

I knew I wanted to be a writer before I knew that being a writer was possible.

That has to remain the principal reason for doing it, doesn't it? I know it's possible to write for money, and many very good writers have done so. But for me, it has to remain the principal thing that I actually want to do the writing.

Writing was my first occupation, begun at age 23.

My aunt could never understand how writing could be a full-time job. She'd keep asking when I'd get a real job!

I have long observed that the act of writing is viewed, by some, as an elite and otherworldly act, all the more so if a person isn't paid for what she writes.

On a more practical level, anyone out there who wants to be a writer should clearly recognize that this is a brutal business, where even incredibly talented people sometimes never make a living. If you want to chase such a dream, please have a Plan B in place.

Creative writing programmes are not very necessary. They just exist so that people like us can make a living.

I love writing, and I am one of the people who can do it and make a living.

I may not have become a good writer, but I managed to make a living out of writing.

And there are people who want to be writers because they love to write. And they care.

Once writing has become your major vice and greatest pleasure, only death can stop it.

If I can make a living as a writer, I can do anything.

But whatever my failure, I have this thing to remember - that I was a pioneer in my profession, just as my grandfathers were in theirs, in that I was the first man in this section to earn his living as a writer.

I write for the love of writing. If I never published another book, I would still be writing stories.

I tell young people who ask me about a future in writing not to go into it unless they get married to someone rich.

Writing is as big a part of my career as acting is, financially and time wise. So, yeah, I love it. That's all I wanted to do since I was young was be a writer. So that and acting are the two most important aspects of my career.

I'd probably still be a financial journalist now if it weren't for writing novels. Mmm. Fun! I'm much happier writing novels!