It's taken me 15 years to feel I might be able to write and publish short stories, and for the assiduous checks of the industry to allow some through.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
I got a couple of stories published, but the kind of money you were making for publishing a short story, I could see I wasn't going to make a living at it.
Short stories are wonderful and extremely challenging, and the joy of them, because it only takes me three or four months to write, I can take more risks with them. It's just less of your life invested.
I started submitting stories for publication when I was about 15, but it was many years before I sold anything. I don't make my living writing science fiction, so in that sense, I'm still not a pro.
I like the idea of being a working writer, not of saying that it's going to take me 30 years to write my magnum opus.
I spent 20 years of my career primarily being a writer for hire.
I wrote my first novel-length story when I was 14 but had no idea what to do with it. Brisbane was a long way from the publishing industry then. Nowhere's a long way from the publishing industry now.
On the other hand, now that I'm not dependent on fiction for my income, I've been writing more short stories despite the fact that there's no real paying market for short horror other than Cemetery Dance.
I am a writer. I could not afford to take 15 months off from my writing career to play detective.
I started off as a journalist when I was young and I did not get paid unless I wrote three stories a day.
I worked probably 25 years by myself, just writing and working, not trying to publish much, not giving readings.
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