The Writer’s Bureau is an Distant Education Institution based in the United Kingdom which claims to have trained many successful writers.
Sometime around the year 2003-2004, I signed up for the Writer’s Bureau Training Course. As I may have mentioned in my article “My Experience with the Writer’s Bureau,” I did not get far with the course.
But one of things that came early in the course, before I quit was, was that I should only write if I have a market for writing. I was specifically instructed that I should not put pen on paper unless I have a market for writing project.
Having come a long way as both an amateur and professional writer, I strongly disagree with such teachings, and hope it is no longer an advice given by the Writer’s Bureau. That is because I think it is a very dangerous, daunting and misleading piece of advice.
Here’s my advice: writers should write their hearts out. Whether or not there is a market for your writer, write to find self expression. Write to explore deep within you. Write to describe the world around you. If nobody buys it, use your initiative and self publish. Promote your own work. Write because you strongly believe in your ideas and what they represent. Write because you strongly believe in yourself. Write even when no one is reading.
Later on, you can always discard, update, merge and collaborate with others, but for now, just write, and keep writing. You will never know what’s inside until you have written it out.