I Will Be a Writer

I have always seen myself as an inward person who best expressed his thoughts on paper for all to see. That is why I see writing as my natural career choice; not only is it what I do best, but both my parents' first career were journalism. Reading is my first love, and while reading a book I often find myself lost in a totally different world, one that exists only in the imagination of the author and in my own mind. I know I want to be a writer, and my performance in school contests as well as in the National Council of Teachers of English competition has made me believe I have the talent to be successful. I don't think I want to write novels; short stories and journalistic articles are more my forte. My years of writing for the school newspaper have not only strengthened my talent in this field, they have also introduced me to the thrill of seeing my work read and enjoyed by my peers.

Although my primary career goal has always been writing, that is by no means my only interest. I work in a baseball card and comic book shop, and have been collecting baseball cards since I was five years old. I think I could perhaps write for one of the major trade magazines, a job that wouldn't reach as large an audience as a newspaper but would allow me to combine two of my loves. I also have considered a career in sports writing, owing mostly to my love of the Chicago Cubs and baseball in general.

I fear that writing solely so other people can enjoy reading a work and can share the author's thoughts is a dying art. Nowadays, every book and story has to be turned into a movie, presumably so that the masses do not have to invest any time or intellectual energy in actually reading something enjoyable. While I attribute this partially to a decrease in the attention span of successive generations of Americans, it is also due to an increase in the desire for immediate rewards by writers. It is not enough to write a good book; it must be a bestseller, with a movie deal, an audio book, a book tour, and a round on the talk show circuit. I would be perfectly happy writing what I consider high-quality works without having to make millions to prove to the world that I have talent.