IWSG: When Skies Are Gray

11 Commentswriting

 

Purpose: To share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a safe haven for insecure writers of all kinds!
April 4 question – When your writing life is a bit cloudy or filled with rain, what do you do to dig down and keep on writing?
The awesome co-hosts for the April 4 posting of the IWSG are Olga Godim,Chemist Ken,Renee Scattergood, and Tamara Narayan!
My Writing life? cloudy or filled with rain? I don’t really think that’s possible. My writing life is just fine, thank you very much.
It’s my professional life that’s bleak. The story that I enjoyed writing doesn’t sell. Someone said the word “synopsis” (And in front of children!) The agent I just finished writing the most beautiful, perfectly worded, personalized query for announced that he’s retiring from publishing to play death metal dulcimer.
The important thing is to keep these two facts separate. My writing life is not the same as my professional life. There are plenty of people who enjoy playing football who have never been picked up by the NFL. There are plenty of people who crochet, or build computers, or sail boats for fun.
We have hobbies, and those of us who are lucky and persistent get to do those hobbies for a living. But the others… they still enjoy the hobbies. They’re still better off for having done the hobby.
So, how do I deal with the professional end of things not going as well as I’d hoped? Throw myself into the hobby. Write something fun. Something for me. Something light and enjoyable.
Respect the things that I get out of writing, even if every last word winds up in a trunk at the foot of my bed.
Keep Going.

11 Comments

  1. Eva Ashton

    Reply

    Hang in there. I’m sorry things with agents and querying are not going as well as hoped but I do hope its just a passing obstacle one you’re going to smash through any day now. Just like the rain, once it’s gone things grow and become what they are destined to be. That is my wish for your story now.

  2. Juneta

    Reply

    Writing was my escaped when I had full time job. I wrote more then than I do now. I don’t know, but going from the escape mode to the survival mode has done a number on me. You would think I’d write more in survival mode as I am hoping writing to become a way to survive. Instead I spend more time in a stasis or defunct state. Working on changing that.

    Hang in there and “Just Keep Swimming” as Dory likes to say. Wait for the rainbow because it always follows the rain.

    Sometimes that angst motivation keeps us moving because we are already in action in overcoming or dealing with the other. I wish I could find that spot again because although I thought it terrible at the time; I was still moving forwarding and could see results of that even in dark moments.

  4. Erika Beebe

    Reply

    Awww…yes, write something fun for you. Be good to you and above all things keep your spirits up 🙂 Happy IWSG day.

  6. Lee

    Reply

    Well it’s hard to compete with that death metal dulcimer gig. So carry on, keep going, write what you want to write. Your dark side will kick in soon enough.

  7. cgcoppola

    Reply

    Good! That’s exactly what you should do – throw yourself in the hobby. Throw everything else to the wayside and concentrate on something that excites you 🙂

  8. E.M.A. Timar

    Reply

    Sorry querying isn’t going well, but keep pushing forward. (And can you blame the agent? I mean there is a definitive lack of death metal dulcimer on the market.) Keep writing and loving it, Karen! You can do this.

    • Karen

      Reply

      Thanks for the vote of confidence. It means a lot to me. (And someday, I’ll probably go to a death metal dulcimer concert to celebrate!)

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