They came out of the cinema and stood for a moment, deciding on which café to head for.
A few minutes later they sat nursing cups of coffee, pulling the movie apart. They didn’t do this very often and they both enjoyed the catch up. Ellie and Naomi had been at school together a decade earlier. Ellie was now at University, while Naomi was studying hairdressing. Although it was rare that they got together, it was always good when they did. After discussing the merits or otherwise of the film, they settled down to personal chit-chat.
Naomi said “Somebody told me your Dad writes stories, is that right? He should publish.”
Ellie smiled.
Naomi said “What?”
“He doesn’t write to sell them, he writes them, well… because he likes to write them, I guess.”
“Does he make any money at it?”
Ellie nearly chokes on her coffee, “Sorry, No, not really. If you knew my Dad, you’d understand. It’s not what he wants to do. He’s not interested in making money out of them, he’s only interested in writing them.” She leant forward. “He published a book once you know.”
“Did he?”
“Yes; but he doesn’t like to publicise the fact.”
“Did he sell many books?”
“Well, he doesn’t really know. He’s got access to a website where he can see whose buying things. He never looks at it. You’ve got to sell quite a lot of books before you get any royalties coming through. He’s never had any of those as far as I know.”
Naomi frowned. “Why did he publish it?”
“I think he was under quite a bit of pressure. You know, people kept telling him he should publish. I think in the end he did it to shut them up. He told me once that from that point of view it worked. He also said that over a number of months there was a lot of work involved in actually getting a book published… said he wouldn’t do it again.”
“So, he just writes for writings sake?”
“Yeh, much like me and my jewellery I suppose. I don’t make the stuff to sell. I just like making it. When I think of it, I am really enjoying my studies and seem to be getting good grades, I think the two things go hand in hand. You like the work you do, don’t you.”
“Oh! Yes.” Came the instant reply.
Ellie looked pleased with herself. “Well, there you go then.” she said. “I think we’ve established a pretty firm principle there don’t you? You can never make a good job of something if you are under duress.”
Naomi nodded.