I used to think that to be an author, one needs to be published, hopefully by a famous publisher who can afford a big advance payment plus sending you to sign books and give speeches all over the world. Being a writer is just to write, but being an author means you have STATUS. In short, being a writer means you are idealistic but poor. Being an author, however, means people will come to you for ideas and make you rich.
Obviously I was wrong.
Being an author in this day and age means you are self-disciplined, determined and highly organised. You are capable of patiently monitoring your every step forward until that book of yours is completed and published. Being an author today means you are practical — you understand ideas only remain as thoughts and feelings in your head until they are transformed into concrete words. More importantly, you appreciate the values of your voice and are willing to do anything to have it heard.
Writers who are yet to have their writings published may find it difficult to comprehend how diligent an author needs to be. To have a book done is harder than shifting a mountain — from composing the content to formatting, editing and proofreading it, to designing a cover and writing introductions to the book and yourself as its creator, to actually publishing it, and then to promoting it. Compared to writers who pile up their writings in drawers or on hard disks, authors take the challenge of jumping off the imagined cliff into that big wide ocean that is the reality. And, indeed, authors may drown, but writers who remain on land never have a chance to appreciate how cool and green and refreshing the seawater is.
I used to think only extraordinary people should publish their stories as books. These days, perhaps because I am getting older, it is my firm belief that everyone has a unique story that deserves to be known. It is a writer’s job to record such stories in the best ways possible, but only authors can make them last forever. To cross that threshold from temporary to eternity, you need to get published in whatever way you can.
Voices under the Sun 陽光下的聲音 