--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Being a professional writer is a lot like…" description: "\"“Being a professional writer is a lot like being a hooker. You'd better find out if you're any good at it before you start charging for it.”\" — Sharyn ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/de0/sharyn-mccrumb-18772_hooker_being-a-professional-writer-is-a-lot-lik_1184418.png" --- # Being a professional writer is a lot like being a hooker… ![“Being a professional writer is a lot like being a hooker. You'd better find out if you're any good at it before you start charging for it.” quote by Sharyn McCrumb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/de0/sharyn-mccrumb-18772_hooker_being-a-professional-writer-is-a-lot-lik_1184418.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/de0/sharyn-mccrumb-18772_hooker_being-a-professional-writer-is-a-lot-lik_1184418.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/de0/sharyn-mccrumb-18772_hooker_being-a-professional-writer-is-a-lot-lik_1184418.png) > ““Being a professional writer is a lot like being a hooker. You'd better find out if you're any good at it before you start charging for it.”” [Sharyn McCrumb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sharyn-mccrumb/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Professional writing requires proven skill before monetizing; self‑assessment is essential. **In simple terms:** Test your writing before charging. Key Takeaway Validate skill before charging. Themes career writing entrepreneurship Mood cautious realistic Type advice motivational When to use this quote - freelance writing - content creation - publishing - self‑publishing Key Concepts skill assessment market validation Questions to Reflect On - How will you measure your writing quality? - What metrics will you use before setting prices? A Different Perspective Skill alone doesn't guarantee success; market demand matters. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Hooker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hooker/) [Hooker Better](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hooker-better-3486524/) [Like Hooker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/like-hooker-1094560/) [Money](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/money/) [Professional Writer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/professional-writer/) [Writer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writer/) [Writer Lot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writer-lot-696980/) [Writing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writing/) ## Related quotes > [My father told me that if I ever did anything artistic, I was going to look like a hooker. I told him, 'With these…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sofia-vergara/my-father-told-me-that-if-i-ever-did-anything-artistic-i-was-going-to/) [Sofia Vergara](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sofia-vergara/) > [If you're walking down the street in L.A., people do sort of look at you like you're a hooker because it's so rare to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carey-mulligan/if-you-re-walking-down-the-street-in-l-a-people-do-sort-of-look-at/) [Carey Mulligan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carey-mulligan/) > [I felt very much like a hooker who had just been told she was a lady of the evening.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neil-gaiman/i-felt-very-much-like-a-hooker-who-had-just-been-told-she-was-a-lady/) [Neil Gaiman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neil-gaiman/) > [“I uprooted my daughter and left my job and moved house for you, and you treat me like a hooker you don’t have to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-k-rowling/i-uprooted-my-daughter-and-left-my-job-and-moved-house-for-you-and/) [J.K. Rowling](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-k-rowling/) > [Me without you is like a hooker with no luck.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/me-without-you-is-like-a-hooker-with-no-luck/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [My point of view as a writer has to be a lot more ego-less than just like being some performer on stage with a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tift-merritt/my-point-of-view-as-a-writer-has-to-be-a-lot-more-ego-less-than-just/) [Tift Merritt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tift-merritt/) > [I'm going to homecoming with my friends and we tried on dresses today they put me in this... So tight I feels so short…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/i-m-going-to-homecoming-with-my-friends-and-we-tried-on-dresses-today/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [My voice is very special. People either love it or they're like, 'What's wrong with this girl? She looks 16 and sounds like a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alessandra-torresani/my-voice-is-very-special-people-either-love-it-or-they-re-like-what-s/) [Alessandra Torresani](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alessandra-torresani/) > [I don't understand how you could just reject me like a hooker with aids](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/i-don-t-understand-how-you-could-just-reject-me-like-a-hooker-with/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“It's like Hooker Barbie masquerading as Nancy Drew”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tiffany-snow/it-s-like-hooker-barbie-masquerading-as-nancy-drew/) [Tiffany Snow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tiffany-snow/) > [“I had been a writer all of my life, every waking second, and now that part of my life was over. I suppose the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bonnie-greer/i-had-been-a-writer-all-of-my-life-every-waking-second-and-now-that/) [Bonnie Greer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bonnie-greer/) > [“Most people probably didn't think I'd make it as a professional writer. But I couldn't follow their advice.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/haruki-murakami/most-people-probably-didn-t-think-i-d-make-it-as-a-professional/) [Haruki Murakami](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/haruki-murakami/) > [It is perfectly possible to be a professional director or a professional writer and not to be an artist: merely a sort of executor…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrei-tarkovsky/it-is-perfectly-possible-to-be-a-professional-director-or-a/) [Andrei Tarkovsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrei-tarkovsky/) > [In the usual way I submitted manuscripts to publishers. This was not so much a feeling that I should be published as a wish…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tanith-lee/in-the-usual-way-i-submitted-manuscripts-to-publishers-this-was-not/) [Tanith Lee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tanith-lee/) > [I'm not the most talented writer in the world. I know that. But I also know that I'm disciplined, that I work my butt…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-b-coe/i-m-not-the-most-talented-writer-in-the-world-i-know-that-but-i-also/) [David B. Coe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-b-coe/) ## More by Sharyn McCrumb > [“Seasons didn't come behind the nicotine-stained walls of Mountain City's prison, so Harm always imagined it spring--the locust trees clustered with shaggy white blooms,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sharyn-mccrumb/seasons-didn-t-come-behind-the-nicotine-stained-walls-of-mountain/) [Sharyn McCrumb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sharyn-mccrumb/) > [SHADOW KNIGHT'S MATE is a compelling story, extremely well-written and alarmingly plausible. Jay Brandon does for politics what Dan Brown did for religion.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sharyn-mccrumb/shadow-knight-s-mate-is-a-compelling-story-extremely-well-written-and/) [Sharyn McCrumb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sharyn-mccrumb/) > [Cities are judged by their richest inhabitants and rural areas are judged](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sharyn-mccrumb/cities-are-judged-by-their-richest-inhabitants-and-rural-areas-are/) [Sharyn McCrumb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sharyn-mccrumb/) > [“The people who live happily ever after - they don't appear in the history books. They just fade away. I reckon that's what happiness…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sharyn-mccrumb/the-people-who-live-happily-ever-after-they-don-t-appear-in-the/) [Sharyn McCrumb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sharyn-mccrumb/) > [I wonder which is worse-the death, not knowing what comes after, or the wedding, when you think you know, but you're wrong.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sharyn-mccrumb/i-wonder-which-is-worse-the-death-not-knowing-what-comes-after-or-the/) [Sharyn McCrumb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sharyn-mccrumb/) > [Nobody has time to write a book. Some people just do it anyhow.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sharyn-mccrumb/nobody-has-time-to-write-a-book-some-people-just-do-it-anyhow/) [Sharyn McCrumb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sharyn-mccrumb/) > [Machines seem to sense that I am afraid of them. It makes them hostile.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sharyn-mccrumb/machines-seem-to-sense-that-i-am-afraid-of-them-it-makes-them-hostile/) [Sharyn McCrumb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sharyn-mccrumb/) > [“Oh, son, hardly anybody wants to leave. These mountains are more than just a place for folks around here.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sharyn-mccrumb/oh-son-hardly-anybody-wants-to-leave-these-mountains-are-more-than/) [Sharyn McCrumb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sharyn-mccrumb/) > [Trying to act normal is the most unnatural behavior of all.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sharyn-mccrumb/trying-to-act-normal-is-the-most-unnatural-behavior-of-all/) [Sharyn McCrumb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sharyn-mccrumb/) > [“There is a time in late September when the leaves are still green, and the days are still warm, but somehow you know that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sharyn-mccrumb/there-is-a-time-in-late-september-when-the-leaves-are-still-green-and/) [Sharyn McCrumb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sharyn-mccrumb/) > [High school and equality are forever incompatible.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sharyn-mccrumb/high-school-and-equality-are-forever-incompatible/) [Sharyn McCrumb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sharyn-mccrumb/) > [“The most momentous events in life—baptisms, weddings, and funerals—don’t seem to take much time, but the effects of them bind up the whole of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sharyn-mccrumb/the-most-momentous-events-in-life-baptisms-weddings-and-funerals-don/) [Sharyn McCrumb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sharyn-mccrumb/) > [Boondocks' is simply the Tagalog word for mountains.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sharyn-mccrumb/boondocks-is-simply-the-tagalog-word-for-mountains/) [Sharyn McCrumb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sharyn-mccrumb/) > [You take a handful of rocks and put them in a jar. Then once a week, you take one tiny pebble out of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sharyn-mccrumb/you-take-a-handful-of-rocks-and-put-them-in-a-jar-then-once-a-week/) [Sharyn McCrumb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sharyn-mccrumb/) > [If it had taught them nothing else, twenty years of living past high school had taught them self-preservation. ... No one was going to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sharyn-mccrumb/if-it-had-taught-them-nothing-else-twenty-years-of-living-past-high/) [Sharyn McCrumb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sharyn-mccrumb/) [Explore all 34 Sharyn McCrumb quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sharyn-mccrumb/) ## More Hooker quotes > [Sometimes I feel like an old hooker.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cher/sometimes-i-feel-like-an-old-hooker/) [Cher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cher/) > [That's what they do to whatever I was - 19 or something. You're the baby hooker. You can ask any woman my age and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lori-petty/that-s-what-they-do-to-whatever-i-was-19-or-something-you-re-the-baby/) [Lori Petty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lori-petty/) > [“A moment later, all of the men at the party, stupefied by the way the hooker had gone banshee,”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chris-bohjalian/a-moment-later-all-of-the-men-at-the-party-stupefied-by-the-way-the/) [Chris Bohjalian](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chris-bohjalian/) > [I'm not a sexy guy. I went to a hooker. I dropped my pants. She dropped her price.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rodney-dangerfield/i-m-not-a-sexy-guy-i-went-to-a-hooker-i-dropped-my-pants-she-dropped/) [Rodney Dangerfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rodney-dangerfield/) > [What a shock that a guy who makes $2 million a week behaves exactly like I would with $2 million a week. As far…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jim-norton/what-a-shock-that-a-guy-who-makes-2-million-a-week-behaves-exactly/) [Jim Norton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jim-norton/) > [“Your father picks you up from prison in a stolen Dodge Neon with an 8-ball in the glove compartment and a hooker named Mandy…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dennis-lehane/your-father-picks-you-up-from-prison-in-a-stolen-dodge-neon-with-an-8/) [Dennis Lehane](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dennis-lehane/) > [Helen of Troy, a hooker from Upstate New York. Never got a dinner!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/red-buttons/helen-of-troy-a-hooker-from-upstate-new-york-never-got-a-dinner/) [Red Buttons](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/red-buttons/) > [The trouble with Hooker is that he's got his headquarters where his hindquarters aught to be.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abraham-lincoln/the-trouble-with-hooker-is-that-he-s-got-his-headquarters-where-his/) [Abraham Lincoln](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abraham-lincoln/) > [Life is the best left hooker I ever saw, although some say it was Charlie White of Chicago](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-hemingway/life-is-the-best-left-hooker-i-ever-saw-although-some-say-it-was/) [Ernest Hemingway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-hemingway/) > [I've had six or eight hookers in my life. I never woke up the next day thinking man I'm glad I got a hooker…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/doug-stanhope/i-ve-had-six-or-eight-hookers-in-my-life-i-never-woke-up-the-next-day/) [Doug Stanhope](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/doug-stanhope/) > [If you're going to play a hooker in a movie, the movie has to have the perspective, of course, that it isn't such a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maggie-gyllenhaal/if-you-re-going-to-play-a-hooker-in-a-movie-the-movie-has-to-have-the/) [Maggie Gyllenhaal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maggie-gyllenhaal/) > [A hooker once told me she had a headache.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rodney-dangerfield/a-hooker-once-told-me-she-had-a-headache/) [Rodney Dangerfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rodney-dangerfield/) > [“Coal Town was primed like a john with a hard-on. All they needed was a willing hooker and it would blow.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sharon-sala/coal-town-was-primed-like-a-john-with-a-hard-on-all-they-needed-was-a/) [Sharon Sala](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sharon-sala/) > [“Ordell knew he wanted to be a hooker the first time he saw Mama zip up her thigh-high boots, lean against the sink and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-leins/ordell-knew-he-wanted-to-be-a-hooker-the-first-time-he-saw-mama-zip/) [Tom Leins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-leins/) > [I do it for the money, man I am such a hooker And freedom was my girl, until they f-cking took her](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lil-wayne/i-do-it-for-the-money-man-i-am-such-a-hooker-and-freedom-was-my-girl/) [Lil Wayne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lil-wayne/) [Browse all 87 Hooker quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hooker/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Being a professional writer is a lot like being a hooker. 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