There are a lot of demands on my time. It’s a scarce commodity, and likely I’m not the only person in this boat, right?
I felt like a writing goddess yesterday when I got six solid pages of good-quality content written. On a workday. Both the kids were at home too. It made me feel like a super star, like I could actually manage to pull this writing gig off.
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I’ve been doubting myself lately, which I suppose bears mentioning. Finding time to write is hard. Actually writing is hard. Having a writing session that unsatisfying, then showing up again the next day is hard. If you tell anyone that you spend your free time writing, and they say that it must be nice, relaxing, or any other banal comment, laugh at them. (Please forgive this bit of snark) Tell them that writing makes your first job seem easy, and by the way, you’re a brain surgeon or rocket scientist. (One of my Dragon*Con friends, Mandy Pietruszewski actually is a rocket scientist. Isn’t that cool?)
It seems like I have been working on THE DREAMLESS CITY forever. Once I started looking at the actual time involved, it has been about three years, and in that time I have had two kids, finished grad school, and continued my full-time job. Maybe I shouldn’t be that hard on myself.
Today, I ran across a post from K.L. Wightman, which echoed some of my recent troubles. While her story is different on the outside, we are having similar troubles with our writing: “I’m struggling to balance all my goals.” I don’t just want to have a job; I want to have a successful career (until I make the Hugh Howey big time and can give up the logistics gig). I want to be there for my kids and stay involved in what they do as they grow. I got the MBA that I had wanted since I was 10 years old. (Yeah, I was a special kind of kid.) I can’t help it; I want it all!
“Easy reading is damn hard writing.” ~ Nathaniel Hawthorne
And maybe I should put on my big girl panties and get the book finished. I want to go on record and say that I will have a complete draft of THE DREAMLESS CITY finished by August 31st. Neither rain nor snow nor more snow nor internet kerfuffles can keep me from my writing… but gosh, how I love reading about a good kerfuffle. ;)
George RR Martin has an interesting process of writing his Song of Ice and Fire series. He does not work on a 21st century computer. He types all those words on an ancient MS-DOS PC with no internet connection and no spell checking software (because it does not recognize fantasy terminology). I cannot begin to imagine it!
Tagged: blank page, confidence, creative process, Dreamless City, internet, rough draft, writers, writing Image may be NSFW.
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Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
