Many a young person tells me he wants to be a writer. I always encourage such people, but I also explain that there’s big difference between “being a writer” and writing. In most cases these individuals are dreaming of wealth and fame, not the long hours alone at a typewriter. “You’ve got to want to write,” I say to them, “not want to be a writer.”
许多年轻人告诉我他想成为一名作家。我总是鼓励这样的人，但我也解释说，“成为一名作家”和写作之间有很大的区别。在大多数情况下，这些人都梦想着财富和名声，而不是独自在打字机前长时间工作。“你必须想写作，”我对他们说，“而不是想成为一名作家。”
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. When I left a 20-year career in the U.S. Coast Guard to become a freelance writer, I had no prospects 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 manual type writer and felt like a genuine writer.
现实是，写作是一件孤独、私密、收入微薄的事情。幸运之神会眷顾一些作家，但更多数以千计的人心中的渴望却无法得到回报。当我从服役20年的美国海岸警卫队离开，成为一名自由撰稿人时，我根本没有前途。我的一个朋友在纽约的一栋公寓楼里找到了我的房间。很冷，没有浴室，这都无关紧要。我立刻买了一台二手手动打字机，感觉自己像个真正的作家。
After a year or so, however, I still hadn’t gotten a break and began to doubt 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 wondering "what if". I would keep putting my dream to the test-even though it meant living with uncertainty and fear of failure. This is the Shadowland of hope, and anyone with a dream must learn to live there.
然而，一年左右后，我仍然没有突破，开始怀疑自己。出售一个几乎吃不饱饭的故事太难了，但我知道我想写作。我多年来一直梦想着它，我不想成为那种临死还困惑的人。我会继续实践我的梦想，即使这意味着生活在不确定性和对失败的恐惧中。这是希望之地，任何有梦想的人都必须学会生活在那里。
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