Things that nearly put me off writing my first novel

I don't know what the statistics are but I have a feeling that journalists don't automatically make very good fiction writers. It's a different part of the brain. And it's a different business model. When you're a journalist you write a thousand words or so are about someone, somewhere, something else. Very often, no personal opinion required. After a thousand words or so, you get paid. You park that feature and start on the next one. You also have an editor, mostly at the end of an email, saying (hopefully), 'thanks for that - good job'. And (hopefully) your byline will pop up somewhere. Both these are a journalistic equivalent of hearty pats on the back. Reasons to carry on.

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