Many 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 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. "
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 ca-reer in the US Coast Guard to become a freelance writer (自由撰稿者), 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 typewriter and felt like a genuine writer.
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. "Shadowland" in the last sentence refers to ______.