Mark, a young person, tells me he wants to be a writer. I always encourage such people, but I also explain that there's a big difference between "being a writer" and writing. In most cases these people are dreaming of wealth and fame, not the long hours alone at a typewriter(打字机)."You've got to want to write,"I say to them," not want to be a writer."

    The reality is that writing is a lonely, private and poor-paying affair. For every writer kissed by fortune there are thousands more whose longing is never rewarded(报答). When I left a 20-year job in the US Coast Guard to become a writer, I had no hopes at all.

    What I did have was a friend who found me my room in a New York apartment building. It didn't even matter that it was cold and had no bathroom. I immediately bought a used typewriter and felt like a real writer.

    After a year or so, however, I still hadn't got a break and began to doubt (MWE ) myself. It was so hard to sell a story that barely made enough to eat. But I knew I wanted to write. I had dreamed about it for years. I wasn't going to be one of those people who die wonder in " what if".

    I would keep putting my dream to the test-even though it meant living with uncertainty(不确定) and fear of failure. This is theshadowlandof hope, and anyone with a dream must learn to live there.