What Kind Of Writer Am I?

I recently purchased the Ebook by the ubiquitous Authoress called Agent: Demystified, and I read through it immediately. One section that struck me was a question she posed. What kind of writer are you? She broke it down into two types: writers who view writing as a business and writers who write because they have to. I'm not doing her book justice of course, because she says it much more eloquently than that, but thats the gist. To expand on the categories though, its like this. Writers that view writing as a business are doing so to get published. Thats the goal. The alternative is to be a writer for whom writing is a necessity absolute. This is the writer that must write every day or they feel ill. This writer must write as much as they must breathe oxygen.

I marvel at the "must write" writer, because I am the other type. I do enjoy writing, don't get me wrong. And I will attest to moments where I have had to sit down and write until I get it all out. I am so envious sometimes however, of the writer that must write in order to feel whole. Sometimes I wonder if I'm missing that aspect of personality, that drive that separates the two groups definitively. From Authoress' perspective, us "business writers" are better off in some ways because we are able to approach the business aspect of being a writer easier. That might be true. I definitely do see the merits of viewing my writing career as just that - a career. But I wonder what it would feel like to be driven mad by the need to write constantly. If you haven't picked up the Ebook, I highly recommend it. Whether you're a long time veteran of the industry or a newbie, its a worthy tome.

Which type of writer are you, a writer capable of treating it as a business or a writer joined at the hip with their muse? If you're able to merge the two, you're probably doing pretty well for yourself.