Tuesday, December 2, 2008

A Busy Day

Most writers work day jobs because it's difficult to make a living as an independent writer, especially with ficiton. It's not impossible - just difficult. The irony is that the day job that pays the bills tends to infringe on the time available to write.

I love my day job but today was one of those days that just left me exhausted. Still, I managed to crank out a few sentences on the train and update my scene list as I work on my second romantic suspense novel. Now a few sentences doesn't sound like much but I learned awhile ago that writing even just one sentence a day is fundamental to making progress on completing any written work.

It takes discipline to turn on my laptop after a long day at work, but I'm enjoying my writing process so much that even penning one sentence is ample reward for me, although most days I write much more than that. A sentence or paragraph a day eventually leads to a chapter which leads to another chapter which leads to a novel length work of fiction. It's almost intoxicating.

So, what if I never get an offer for a book conract? What if my work is only read by a few people? Well, that might happen, but I'm not giving up. Writing is part of who I am now and expressing myself through my writing is as essential to my life as making a living. I'm fortunate that I enjoy both and find them both rewarding. I'm really fortunate that I can always depend on one of them to pay my bills. Anything else is icing on the cake - but then, I like icing on my cake.

3 comments:

Morgan Mandel said...

Sometimes I can write when I'm exhausted. Other times, I need my head to be clear to really get into the story.

Morgan Mandel
http://morganmandel.blogspot.com
http://www.morganmandel.com

Judith Leger said...

There's nothing else you can do Terri. No matter what life throws at you or how exhausted you become, the drive to create whole new worlds and unforgettable characters never, ever leaves a writer.

Deb Larson said...

Terri ~
Exhaustion is one of the downsides
of writing. Finding time, making time is always my biggest challenge. I have ideas, but I'll never have the time to create all of them into a story. So I concentrate on the ones that talk to me. I also write in my head several times a day. Weird, I know!! :)
Good blog!!
Deb Larson