What keeps me going?
That's easy.
What else would I be doing with my time?
I look back at my life and realize that I've ALWAYS done more than just work. That's why I have 5 college degrees -- I got them all while working full-time (okay, the first one I didn't work full-time, just part-time). I was always learning, always doing more, never sitting still. There's a joke in my family (based in truth) that I can't sit still for more than 2 minutes. Well, I can. I've made it to 5 minutes now and again, and longer if I'm reading ... or writing.
So I've always looked for something more to do with my time. I hate sitting and watching TV. I don't Listen To Music, I have music on while I'm doing something else. I always multi-task -- I'm running a program in the background while I'm writing this blog, for example.
I taught myself to crochet and entered the State Fair, winning every ribbon possible, from Hon. Mention to First (I didn't aspire to Grand Prize: that was beyond my meager capacities). Of course, I crocheted as I watched TV...
I earned a horticulture degree and took on landscaping, digging up and re-terracing the yard, digging post holes, putting in a pond, then tearing it all up and doing it again.
I finally looked around and decided I'd done all those things that had lingered in the back of my mind for years ('learn to do this' kind of things). Mountain climbing is out because I'm terrified of heights. Scuba diving is out because I live in Minnesota. Skiing is out because I'm not stupid.
Hmm. Why not write?
I never wanted to be a NYT best seller, or have name recognition, or even aspired to make a living as a fiction writer. I make a damn good living as a technical writer, and have done just about everything I want to do there.
I just want to write. It's irrelevant to me if anyone 'gets' what I write. It would sure be nice if folks would love it and buy it, but if they don't, that's fine. My editor loves it and buys it. She and I have had our tussles but she hasn't rejected me ... yet.
What kept me going this long?
I've always been a writer -- a technical writer, but a writer. I've ALWAYS gotten criticism of my work. It comes with the territory. You learn to develop a thick skin. One thing I've always known is that I'm a good writer. I wasn't sure I could write fiction, but I knew I could give it a good shot.
One other thing I've learned over the years is how to be objective about my work. And I finally got to the point where I read something I wrote and said, "This is good enough to get published. It's as good as anything A, B, or C is writing."
That's when I remembered that getting published is 30% talent, 30% perseverance, and 40% luck. I just had to work on the luck aspect. So I targeted the right market for my kind of book. We'll see if it flies beyond that market. If not. ...
On to the next story.
That's easy.
What else would I be doing with my time?
I look back at my life and realize that I've ALWAYS done more than just work. That's why I have 5 college degrees -- I got them all while working full-time (okay, the first one I didn't work full-time, just part-time). I was always learning, always doing more, never sitting still. There's a joke in my family (based in truth) that I can't sit still for more than 2 minutes. Well, I can. I've made it to 5 minutes now and again, and longer if I'm reading ... or writing.
So I've always looked for something more to do with my time. I hate sitting and watching TV. I don't Listen To Music, I have music on while I'm doing something else. I always multi-task -- I'm running a program in the background while I'm writing this blog, for example.
I taught myself to crochet and entered the State Fair, winning every ribbon possible, from Hon. Mention to First (I didn't aspire to Grand Prize: that was beyond my meager capacities). Of course, I crocheted as I watched TV...
I earned a horticulture degree and took on landscaping, digging up and re-terracing the yard, digging post holes, putting in a pond, then tearing it all up and doing it again.
I finally looked around and decided I'd done all those things that had lingered in the back of my mind for years ('learn to do this' kind of things). Mountain climbing is out because I'm terrified of heights. Scuba diving is out because I live in Minnesota. Skiing is out because I'm not stupid.
Hmm. Why not write?
I never wanted to be a NYT best seller, or have name recognition, or even aspired to make a living as a fiction writer. I make a damn good living as a technical writer, and have done just about everything I want to do there.
I just want to write. It's irrelevant to me if anyone 'gets' what I write. It would sure be nice if folks would love it and buy it, but if they don't, that's fine. My editor loves it and buys it. She and I have had our tussles but she hasn't rejected me ... yet.
What kept me going this long?
I've always been a writer -- a technical writer, but a writer. I've ALWAYS gotten criticism of my work. It comes with the territory. You learn to develop a thick skin. One thing I've always known is that I'm a good writer. I wasn't sure I could write fiction, but I knew I could give it a good shot.
One other thing I've learned over the years is how to be objective about my work. And I finally got to the point where I read something I wrote and said, "This is good enough to get published. It's as good as anything A, B, or C is writing."
That's when I remembered that getting published is 30% talent, 30% perseverance, and 40% luck. I just had to work on the luck aspect. So I targeted the right market for my kind of book. We'll see if it flies beyond that market. If not. ...
On to the next story.
No comments:
Post a Comment