Question Week

Here’s question number one:

I actually have a question for you and your blog that I’ve been pondering. What kept/keeps you writing? Both now (I’d imagine it is deadlines and that whole writing full time thing pressure) and also back before your first sale? I remember from your blog that there were times you took time off from writing – what made you return? What kept you going and got you back at the keyboard writing? Maybe I’m just looking for a little inspiration right about now 🙂

Times I “took off” from writing: I didn’t write much in New Zealand, mostly because I spent the majority of the (18 hour) days hiking, and the leftover time cooking/setting up my tent/sleeping. I was thrilled to get back home, where I could actually devote time to writing. It wasn’t a motivational problem to start again, I was chomping at the bit! Another stretch of time I took off from writing was during the fall of 2004. I was working in the field of hurricane clean-up, beginning each day around 6:30 and ending around 7:30. After work, I was coordinating a contest that was eating up every spare minute of time. Once again, I couldn’t WAIT for that to be over with!

The most recent time I took off from writing was in the beginning of this year. That was a mix of causes. Winter in the north has always been particularly hard on me, and this was my first one since 2001. I hate the short days and cold, dreary weather. It saps my energy. By the time I got home from work, I was pretty much ready for bed. It was this past winter when I decided I needed to try working full time. (Once again I’m seeing the days getting shorter and shorter and it’s freaking me out.) The other cause was that there is a lot of work involved in getting your book to press, and since it was my first book, I was getting used to that. The first time is the hardest. I think I’ve streamlined the process though, and will be able to plow through all that housekeeping much more easily next time. The third cause was laziness. That’s a struggle. 🙂

This last is probably the only break from writing I’ve had where it was hard to get back into it. For me, it’s just like starting to exercise again after being out of shape. It really, really sucks at first, but you have to power through. I remember telling my CP that there was no way I could write more than 3 pages a day. Turns out I can, when I have to. Turns out I can write seven times that, if necessary.

That’s why I don’t want my post-manuscript-turn-in vacation to last much longer than a week; I don’t want to “get out of shape” again. It’s also like exercising in that, though you may procrastinate and picture it as torturous before you start, once you’re actually doing it you remember how good it feels — the endorphins flow, you get that sense of accomplishment…

That’s what writing is like for me. And I think that’s what it has to be like. You have to really love it. You’d have to do it even if it were just a hobby. Sometimes, I think that loving to write is the only thing that is going to get me through the really tough times in this business.

Of course I’ve been discouraged, felt like I wanted to pull back from all the industry stuff for a while (especially after a run of rejections). But I’d characterize those periods as “I can’t bear to send out another query,” or “I can’t bear to read about another market trend or success story.” Usually, rejections spurred me to write harder, better. “I’ll show them.” Of course I’ve had days where I don’t feel like writing. I’m exhausted, or sick, or I’m supposed to be writing a love scene and just had a big fat fight with Sailor Boy which was totally his fault, by the way. But it works like that in any job. We’ve all had bad days.

I have had tough writing days or received a rotten review and I’ve dreaded taking that first step to start writing again. But once I take that step, step after step, the other crap falls away. You have to love love love to write. I have a friend who says that if you can quit, you should. I have another that takes it farther. She says you should try to convince yourself to quit, and only if you fail, should you go on.

And I have another friend, Roxanne St. Claire, who recently said this:

Because in every writer’s world, be they pubbed, unpubbed, epubbed, prepubbed, postpubbed or überpubbed, there are dark days. I’m not talking about museless afternoons where the words don’t come, or a week where life interrupts the flow of writing, or even the two week write-strike brought on by some nitwit judge who denied you a contest final because you used the word “eyes” instead of “gaze” and your margins were off a quarter inch . No, I’m talking about months (or worse) when the joy of writing is suddenly, inexplicably and totally sucked right out of you. It happens to all of us, no matter where we are on the publication path.

Make no mistake – the dark days of a writing career will come. They will arrive with thunder and clouds and they are going to drench you with doubt and dismay. They may take the shape of a difficult book, a contentious relationship, a sickeningly bad cover, a shocking rejection, an inexplicable contest score, a lousy paycheck, a poorly motivated hero, a boring manuscript. They all might happen at the same time. No might about it: they WILL happen at the same time.

Your job is to go back to the basics: Ask yourself why you write. Conjure up that fresh, high-concept idea. Force yourself to finish the hard books. Change the things you can – even if it means ending a relationship, walking away from a critique partner, or saying no to a volunteer project that cuts into your writing time. Take control and take action and recognize that this happens to everyone. Chocolate, wine and friends are invaluable at this time, too. And, of course, a good book!

I believe that knowing how to coax a little bliss back into your work is far more valuable in the long run than craft tips, industry info or a even the secret handshake. I believe that the strong survive, but the joyous thrive.

I agree wholeheartedly. No one said this job was easy. (Actually, a lot of people say it, but most of them aren’t IN the industry.) Every time I whine, the love of my life, Sailor Boy, says to me that I’m the luckiest person he knows, that I’m doing my dream job and getting paid for it and I love every second, and to shut the hell up. I think he and Nora Roberts should become drinking buddies. (Nora Roberts, for those of you playing catchup, recently did an interview in the RWA newsletter saying whining writers should shut up and picture sitting in traffic.) The point is, whining happens. Even in a dream job. But if you love to write, if you love love love love to write, then you do it. Even if it means that, um, the people you know have to listen to you whine from time to time.
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Okey doke. Keep the questions coming, folks! Anything you want!