SURVEY: EVERYBODY THINKS THEY’RE A WRITER

A recent survey of 2,000 U.S. respondents from the ThriftBooks website has uncovered some things about writers, writing, and writers who have written writing:
– More than half of Americans think they’ve got a good idea for a novel in them, but most have never attempted to write one.
– 15 percent have actually started writing a book, but only six percent have gotten halfway through.
– 24 percent have successfully completed a poem.
– 33 percent say they face difficulty finding inspiration or coming up with ideas.
– Three in five think it’s easier to write young adult or kids’ fiction than any other genre. They believe these books are easier to write because they’re shorter and that children are an easier audience to write for. (* Whoa – dangle that preposition, ThriftBooks!)
– About 50 percent of us think our lives would make a good book.
* Well, 50% of us are dead wrong about that.
* If you think everyone’s life would make a good book, go read someone’s Facebook posts for a week and ask yourself if you’d pay $25 for that.
* And can we please do something about all the ho-hum celebrity memoirs?
* My daughter says she wants to be a writer, but her thumbs get so tired from pressing that tiny keypad on her phone.
* Meanwhile, in the time it took me to read this story, Stephen King ground out three more 400-page novels.