Writing.Com General Discussion

I'm in both 1 & 2 - I want to be a successful, published author who makes money out of writing. However, being a successful, published author doesn't always equate to making a living out of it. Therefore, I sit here quietly perfecting my art and honing my skills, because that's more important to me than making money out of it.

Does that make me a hobbyist, because I haven't published yet, despite having written five novels (and one of those six times)? No, it makes me a perfectionist - or at least obsessive about the perceived level of art & skill in my work - but also begs the question, what is a hobbyist? Where do you draw the line between a hobby and a something else? I took up astronomy as a hobby. I did it then, as now, because it fascinates me. I still do it without pay and without being directed (I choose what I do), but now I'm doing real science and scientists visit my website to see what I've done with data collected by yet other scientists. Is it still a hobby?

I have never once considered my writing a hobby. It was an artform and skill set that I was under par in on every count, and I knew this (luckily), and set out on the long road to learning what I needed to know to successfully tell my stories. Definitely not a hobby.