Back again!
The break stretched a little longer than I had imagined, taking Monday with it as well. Still, it has really done me some good. I worried that getting back into writing was just a fling, but I the past weekend and today's writing has taught me otherwise. It's simply a matter of not letting my own expectations poison things, and instead be satisfied with what I write. I had rapidly gotten into an unhealthy state where I would beat myself up over what I wrote, and how much, lose motivation to write, and then write even less. Repeat.
Hopefully, I can avoid that, at least for a little while. I've decided to have at least 1 day a week where I don't think about writing, publishing or anything to do with it. With a little luck, that'll be enough to keep me away from the negative loop.
Still, it's good to be back to writing. The words flowed easily today, but I've decided to stop for today, while it's still good. Maybe I'll continue tonight? Maybe I won't. I've already written more than I expected to.
This is how it should be. Passion driving things, instead of obligation and self-reinforcing bad conscience.
Hey Ick,
ReplyDeleterandomly discovered your blog the other day.
Reading through it, I have to be honest and say, I'm not sure if trying to be a professional writer, especially in the niche you are in currently, seems like the best idea to me. It just puts you under a lot of pressure, and I've found, whenever I dabbled with writing in my spare time, but mostly when I -had- to write something for university, the more forced you are to do something, be it from within yourself or for exterior reasons, the less original and smooth it will turn out to be in the end.
In my opinion, a more healthy way to go would be to pursue a regular career for the time being, while writing in your free time whenever the muse kisses you, and once you have a couple of pieces ready to publish (this may take a while), go for it. Then, once you see that they actually sell and you've started to gather a small following in the world of literotica, you can seriously consider turning it into a full-time job.
That's just my 2c. Surely you don't look for advice on here, but there you have it anyway. Feel free to ignore. *smirks*
Oh, and since I love your stories, I'll be sure to check out whatever you cook up, promise. :)
-M
Heya, thanks for your thoughts.
DeleteI can reassure you and say that I am most certainly -not- trying to be a professional writer. I'm not -quite- delusional enough to expect that to work right off the bat, though I can't deny being delusional to some extent.
Most likely, I haven't made it clear enough on this blog that this is a long-term thing for me. I have education to finish. When that's done in around 3 years, I expect to have enough material to form a real opinion on whether or not I could launch into being an author full-time, or if it will have to remain something I do every now and again.
And don't worry, I'm not -forcing- out writing. If I was, I could write far more than my current attempts at getting 1000 words a day done. I used to be able to do far more than that, and that was the mentality I initially went into this with. I took a break and adjusted my expectations, which is what you'll have been able to read a few posts about.
I'm always open to feedback, opinions, advice, etc. This blog isn't really a "I'm a professional writer look at all my books and great opinions" thing, it's just me rambling about things to do with writing. :)