Many a young person tells me that he wants to be a writer. I always encourage such people, but I explain that there’s a big difference between "being a writer" and writing. In most cases these individuals are dreaming of wealth and fame, not of the long hours at a typewriter, "You’ve got to want to write, "I say to them, "not want to be a writer."
The reality is that writing is typically a lonely, private and low-paying affair. For every writer kissed by fortune there are thousands more whose longing is never rewarded. When I left a 20year career in the US Coast Guard to become a freelance writer (自由撰稿人), I had no prospects at all. What I did have was a friend who was fond of me and so supplied my room in a New York apartment building. It was cold and had no bathroom; I bought a used manual typewriter and felt like a genuine writer.
After a year or so of this existence, however, I still hadn’t gotten a break
A. the wonderland one often dreams about
B. the bright future that one is looking forward to
C. the state of uncertainty before one's final goal is reached
D. a word that exists only in one's imagination
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