Validation & the writing thing

I suppose there are many writers of novels who aren't really interested in having "a career". They have their novel that they've worked on for years, or maybe a couple of them, and they just want to see them made into a book.

The way the thing works though, you're only a "real" writer if you've had a book published by a "real" publiser, which means going through all the submissions to publishers sending query packages to agents and finding one who is interested in developing "your career".

So what if you just want to write for fun but still have something to show for it? Still get validation?

"Hobby writer" can be a derogative term. You have to be Serious. You have to think about your Career.

Imagine if you wanted to play football but the only option was to play for a team in a national league. No club football or local leagues. National league or nothing. Sorry.

Just because you play sport at club level, doesn't mean you can't take it seriously. You train. You compete. You can win awards. Win games. Win a final! Get recognition. Have fun. Satisfy your desire to run around the ground after a ball and get rained on.

There are things like Lulu, that let you turn your manuscript into a book at a reasonable price but they're not Real books. Maybe there needs to be a way to acknowledge that "hobby writers" are still real writers. Or, probably more important, a way to provide validation or recognition of their ability of a writers, without them having to go through the Real publishers.

If nothing else, it would make slush piles smaller.