Probably everyone who's ever read a book has thought, at least once in their life, "I could do this." If they've read a bad book, they've thought "I could do better than this." And rare is the young sci-fi/fantasy fan who hasn't scribbled something down, whether it was a short story or a rough outline for an epic novel, maybe even the first few chapters of same, thinking that they were going to become a Writer.
With fandoms blossoming online and fan fiction emerging from its furtive photocopied 'zine past and exploding across the Internet, even more people have at least dabbled in writing. But the ratio of people who would like to write a book someday and those who actually write a book remains about the same as it ever was, I think. As for how hard it is to actually get published, who knows? Depending on who you ask, the publishing industry is in its death throes, or it's easier than ever to get published, given that more books are published every year than ever before (and that's not even counting self-publishing).
I was discouraged in the early 90s when pro science fiction authors were saying that the industry was dead and there was no future in professional SF writing except for a lucky few big names. Funny, now a lot of people say the same thing and think the 90s were fat times by comparison.
Anyway, I know that a lot of readers are also would-be writers, so here's your chance to wave your writer's flag.
Note: For purposes of the poll, self-published and fan fiction does not count as "published." Sorry.
ETA: For the "I am an English Lit/Creative Writing major," substitute "Literature/Writing major" or whatever the equivalent might be in your country.
Are you a (would-be) writer?
If you are, which of the following have you done?
What's your genre? (Check all that apply; yes, some are overlapping)
Describe your current/best work in one phrase:
Previous Saturday Book Discussions.