originally posted March 4, 2009
May 2021: reformatted; some links updated; some text revised as needed
The article, “Writing for a Living: A Joy or a Chore?” was posted on the Manchester (UK) Guardian‘s website yesterday, March 3, 2009, and it takes an interesting look at how the following contemporary authors answered that very question. (Note: the links below jump to additional information about each author.) Some of their responses—and their reasonings—may surprise you.
- A. L. Kennedy
- Amit Chaudhuri
- Hari Kunzru
- John Banville
- Will Self
- Joyce Carol Oates
- Geoff Dyer
- Ronan Bennett
- Julie Myerson
Be sure to scroll down and take a look at the readers’ comments, too—you wouldn’t want to miss those!
UPDATE: I thought it might be interesting to get some more modern perspectives on this question, as well, and found the following relatively current thoughts . . .
- “What to Do When Doing the Things You Love Becomes a Chore—Because It’s Bound to Happen at Some Point,” by content writer and blogger Rachel Hardy (posted to Medium.com on August 21, 2019);
- “The Chore of Writing: How to Get the Joy Back,” by humorist and crime-fiction author Nick R. B. Tingley (posted August 27, 2015);
- “What to Do When Writing Becomes More of a Chore Than a Charm,” by researcher and life-coach speaker Evi Abada (posted to theWritingCooperative.com on March 26, 2018); and
- “The Daily Routines of 12 Famous Writers,” by New York Times Best-Selling Author James Clear (undated).
image information: Featured image, courtesy QuoteFancy.com and QuoteFancy Studio
