[A] barely [B] genuine [C] rewarded [D] doubt [E] lonely [F] poverty [G] persuade [H] prospects [I] uncertainty [J] impossibly [K] encourage [L] awarded [M] alone [N] wealth [O] cold Many a young person tells me he wants to be a writer. I always __1__ such people, but I also explain that there’s a big difference between "being a writer" and writing. In most cases these individuals are dreaming of __2__ and fame, not the long hours alone at a typewriter. "You’ve got to want to write," I say to them, "not want to be a writer. "The reality is that writing is a __3__, private and poor-paying affair. For every writer kissed by fortune there are thousands more whose longing is never __4__. When I left a 20-year career in the US. Coast Guard to become a freelance writer(自由撰稿人), I had no __5__ at all. What I did have was a friend who found me my room in a New York apartment building. It didn't even matter that it was __6__and had no bathroom. I immediately bought a used manual typewriter and felt like a __7__ writer. After a year or so, however, I still hadn't gotten a break and began to __8__ myself. It was so hard to sell a story that __9__ made enough to eat. But I knew I wanted to write. I had dreamed about it for years. I wasn’t going to be one of those people who die wondering, what if? I would keep putting my dream to the test — even though it meant living with __10__and fear of failure. This is the Shadow land of hope, and anyone with a dream learn to live there.