I just got back from Borders. I got to meet my favorite author in person, R.A Salvatore. I know that not everyone here is gonna recognize him *seriously guys, maybe you would if you stopped spending your afternoons watching TTGL over and over again or something along those lines* , but he is without a doubt my favorite author- and it shows. Salvatore and his son were really nice guys, and I enjoyed hearing them answer questions.

He may write not on his own but under Wizards from Hasbro, but he has made his arc of the Forgotten Realms book franchise his own with the character Drizzt and many more. I learned many fun things behind my favorite fantasy novel(s) and when I got the chance, I got to ask my favorite author a question of my own.

All I simply wanted was his biggest, most overall important piece of advice he could give to aspiring writers like myself. His reply?

" If you can afford to quit, quit."

He explained to me that unless I was truly devoted and it was truly in my heart that I wanted to be an author, it's best not to try. He let me know that getting published was near impossible and that at the core of it, it is very hard and often not worth doing it. But you know what? I love writing. I love reading- he told me to write and try to get published only if writing was the thing that made me most happy and I was convinced that I had something special.

Did I take this as being put down? No. I did not- infact, I was glad to hear this, because during all my years of daydreaming of being an author, I hadn't thought about that. It didn't matter how good you are at writing, ultimately it's the publisher's desicion to let you by or not.

Furthering this, one of the girls in the audience turned out to be our chashier later. She told me something along the same lines- she loved writing and flourished in high school, but in the end the 15 publishers she had tried all rejected her writings. But even then, she too pointed me in the right direction, giving me an idea of what courses to look for and what directories for writing I should look for if I truly wanted to be an author.

Ultimately, he meant keep on writing, but don't bet my whole life on it unless I was 100% convinced.

In the end, Salvatore and his son alike both shook my hand and wished me best of luck, but not before signing my book with happy birthday wishes.

^^