Well, that gets right to the point, doesn’t it? After reading four books over the last couple days, my daughter asked me, “Mom, where do you find the time?”
I told her, “Are you kidding? Look around my house?" Do I care that there are dust bunnies procreating in every corner? Does the fact that we’re eating leftovers for the nth time push me to make a pot roast? Am I bothered by the spots I have to look through to see outside? In other words, has the health department shut me down yet? No…so I’m still good to go.
Seriously (for those who don’t want to believe the truth above) I am willing to read, edit, write, and read some more to the exclusion of almost anything else, with the exception of family and an occasional load of wash.
I waited until my kids were pretty much grown to pursue my writing. I allowed stories to toss around in gray matter while scrubbing the toilet bowl, fill my mind day to day as I dashed about the soccer field, awaken me at night in all their wonderful glory. And then, one day, I sat down with a legal pad and put some of those tales to paper.
I have never regretted my decision to allow writing to take over my life. There were so many characters living in my head that sooner or later some of them had to come out willingly or I had to pursue serious medication to force them to leave. And now, I have the added pleasure of sharing other folks’ works, helping them push the squatters from their minds to the page. I don't find writing to be what some describe as a lonely or singular endeavor. There are so many wonderful characters to meet and mold. (or do they mold me? Hmmmmmm…)
At any rate, the pleasure is all mine. Even if none of them grace a cover from Zondervan, Multnomah, or Abingdon, my characters live. They have told their stories to a readership of one. They crawled from my head to my fingertips with love, and I’ll continue to tell their stories, even if only to this readership of one.
10 comments:
So much time is spent talking about how to make money at writing. Everyone wants to know how to get published, how to get an agent, how to write a better query letter. All of that is great, but the fact is that I write because I enjoy writing. I enjoy the challenge. As you say, it is worth it, even if no one else reads the stories I write. But what a shame that would be, because they don’t know what they’re missing.
Ha Ha ...love this line -
"Has the health department shut me down yet? No…so I’m still good to go. "
Hehehehehe, thanks Yvonne, glad you enjoyed. If only...
I love you! My dust bunnies morph into dust hippos, too, and I continue to feed my writing, reading, and editing addiction.
Thanks for this funny, freeing post, Linda!
It is fun when we look the other way, especially with housework. Hehehe. I just know I'm going to hire a housekeeper with my first bestseller!
Almost spooky reading your comments this morning, Linda ... because yesterday I came very close to a mental argument with myself over the reality of my characters as I considered their reactions, thoughts, and feelings.
"They have to be real, I know them!" said one side. "You made them up, you dufus," said the other.
I guess it really was an argument after all.
I'll keep writing even if no one reads; I love these guys!
If someone can give up writing for lack of publication,they are not really a writer.
That's my story and I am sticking to it.
Sharon, I am so in agreement with that comment. I always tell people, if you have to write as surely as you have to breathe, then and only then are you a writer. I truly feel God gave us these "people" to bring to life. Sometimes, just for ourselves...
Ahhh . . . yes! The writing addiction is alive and well in my life, too, Linda!
Can't wait to see your efforts in print (paper--I know you're already published in e-book format!)
Aloha, Cheryl
Linda,
By that definition, even though I have five novels and three non-fiction books to my name, I guess I'm not a writer. I suppose I'm more of a dreamer than I am a writer anyway. I just put some of my dreaming down on paper because I want other people to enjoy the same dream.
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