#writer second

I could if I had to? But I have a hard time figuring out what kind of scenario I would have to end up in for that to be the only solution xD

I doubt I'd ever WANT to quit, though. Like, even if I go back to my earliest memory of Writing Something a little more substantial (a horror story when I was 10 that I read to my friends as we huddled together in our tent during a school camping trip (they loved it)) it has always seemed so natural to me. Of course I write. Why wouldn't I? It's almost as obvious to me as watching movies or reading books. It's just something I do and have had a casual interest in since I was quite young.

That's not to say I've always put a lot of effort into it, though. I honestly didn't start consciously trying to improve until I wrote my first fanfic around ten years ago and was told that, hey, you're actually pretty good at this. You could keep doing it?

And I was genuinely surprised by that because writing had been such a natural part of my life for so long that it didn't really strike me as anything special. Or that I could actually be GOOD at it.

And, in the case with fanfics, it just sounded fun, so I promised myself to write at least one before I died. And I think some part of me fully expected there to be only one, which was also why that first fanfic ended up being 290k because you might as well do it properly if you're only going to do it once, right?

... let's ignore the fact that I'm now at 74 published works on AO3. And close to two million words in total.

Shush.

Point being, I don't feel forced to write. It's not a compulsion or something I have to do to get the feelings out, so there's really no reason for me to wish I could stop writing. If I get burnt out, I just pause the writing for a couple of weeks/months and focus more on my drawing. Or read more books.

So while writing is a very natural part of my life (heck, I wrote a book on accident before I wrote my first fanfic) I can also take a step back and let it rest when needed. It's something I do for fun, because I can, and, through some stroke of luck, it turns out I'm also really good at it.

So no, I don't think I'll ever stop writing entirely, but I will definitely take breaks from it when necessary.

Also, if anyone is wondering: yes, I would very much like to write and publish a book at some point (the one mentioned above doesn't quite count since it's not published). I have ideas for several but, right now, I only have so much time I can spend on writing and my fanfics are getting in the way x'D

But someday I'll publish a book too! :D