Perseverance is an indispensable part of being a writer. Knowing when to give up, to admit failure, change course, is an indispensable part of being a human. At least, a smart, 
sane human.
But do “real” writers ever give up? (Not to mention, are they ever really “sane”?)
If you frequent writers’ circles, you will inevitably hear an aspiring author make a confession like this one:
“I give up. I’m done writing. I’ve applied all the advice, attended conferences, read craft books, spoke to professionals, and joined a critique group. I’ve spent hours writing and rewriting. But still no luck. Rejection after rejection, letdown after letdown. My writer friends tell me I’m good, that I should keep pressing on. But I’m tired. My family has suffered, my health has suffered. I’m beginning to doubt myself and my talent. Maybe it’s time to throw in the towel, huh? Nice try, but I just ain’t got it.”
What follows is usually a round of sighs and attaboys. “You’re almost there,” we say. “You’ve got too much talent to stop now.” Before issuing the obligatory reminder that Stephen King was rejected 41 times before he skyrocketted to fame.
Confession: I sometimes wonder whether encouraging an aspiring author to “keep writing” is the right thing to do. I mean, maybe they do need to quit. Maybe they don’t have the talent. Maybe they’re in it for the wrong reasons. Or maybe they just need a break. Either way, telling a struggling writer to “keep pressing on” is not just cliche, it can be misguided.
Perhaps it goes back to our “calling.” But how does someone know they’re “called to write”? It’s a sticky question, one that people invariably answer differently. However, without a reasonable sense of surety that they are following a “divine” lead, I don’t know how a person can rationalize pursuing such a difficult profession.
Could it be that some aspiring authors struggle with a career because they haven’t really been “called” to write?
Stephen Koch, in The Modern Library Writer’s Workshop, strikes a similar note of caution:
Lorrie Moore begins her famous short story “How to Become a Writer” with this blunt recommendation: “First try to be something, anything, else.” Though vocations, like talent, can be damaged, they are rather hard to destroy. “I still think,” Moore says, “you should become a writer only if you have no choice. Writing has to be an obsession — it’s only for those who say, ‘I’m not going to do anything else.’” (emphasis mine)
Which shoots to hell this notion that being a writer is a leisurely romp. You know, endless cocktails, sleep until noon, awash in royalty checks. Maybe if people really understood how tough the world of professional publishing is they’d feel less called.
But what if writing IS an “obsession” for an author and they can’t “do anything else.” They do it on their spare time. They do it whether or not they receive a cent. Must they see “measurable results” to continue?
I suppose it depends on what that author believes are “measurable results.” I mean, if an author simply wants to finish their book and bury it in the back yard, who am I to say they haven’t succeeded? If they’re happy writing for “the love of the craft,” then who cares about rejections?. If they’re satisfied dolling out free e-Books, who needs attaboys? Is this any less noble?
Which is the crux of my muse: It’s important to distinguish between writing to “get published” and writing to write, to create, to use your gifts, to express yourself.
People who want to call it quits as writers are usually those who haven’t made that distinction. They are writing for the wrong reason.
- They are writing for accolades.
- They are writing for validation.
- They are writing for money.
- They are writing for publication.
This is not to say that writing “for the love of it” precludes publication (or money, accolades, or validation), but that the approach is entirely different. You have less reason to bail on writing if your writing is tied to something other than whether or not you get published.
Writers who focus more on craft and motivation, seem to quit less than those who focus on publication and money.
Self-publishing has not helped this discussion. Now, anyone can be a writer. Rather than bury your book in the back yard, you can bury it in the Amazon Abyss. Why wait for professional gatekeepers to acknowledge your talent? Nowadays, an ISBN is all you need for cred.
But if that’s the case, is there ever a time to quit?
I think there is. There is a time to admit that you jumped on a bandwagon. That you had some talent, and over-reached. There is a time to admit that all those rejections mean something. There is a time to admit that your family and your health are suffering due to your obsession with writing. There is a time to admit that self-publishing has not raised your stock. There is a time to throw in the towel and admit that the “call to write” was a figment of your imagination.
So how do you know you’re not one of these writers?
I’ve never wanted to quit writing. Not once.
But how long should somebody persevere? That’s what each writer has to answer. I don’t think I’ll give up writing because it’s what I’ve always done. Twenty years, though–I’ve wasted all twenty years of my adult life following a dream that seems like wind. And how much does my family have to sacrifice for this dream to come true? And honestly, I couldn’t care less about accolades (which is both honest and dishonest at the same time, if you understand the paradox I’m getting at), but the world does. My family does. My friends do. Not that long ago, a friend asked how my writing career was going, and I told her I’d just had a manuscript request, and she asked me when my book would be published. I told her it wasn’t, that I’d just beat the query system, which is a huge success to me whenever I manage that. She didn’t understand, and her eyes glazed over. She no longer cared.
I’m so tired of persevering. I’m just so tired. But next week I’ll be going to my husband’s firefighter conference–my kids at their grandparents–and guess what I’m going to do while the firemen talk about fires? I’m going to write. I can’t stop.
I apologize for the long comment. I’m feeling a little raw about this right now.
Jill, I’ve read enough of your stuff to say with confidence that you’re a very talented writer. I personally wouldn’t advise you to quit. One reason for this post was a discussion we had at our writer’s group this weekend. She mentioned a writer in another one of her groups who officially quit writing. In this writer’s case, she had talent, some moderate success, but undertook a novel project that she didn’t seem ready for. It totally burned her out. Combine this with family / health issues, now she doesn’t want to write at all.
I think this is true of a lot of writers. They have the talent, but a combination of factors wear on them. Life situations. Genre choices. Critique partners (or a lack thereof). Career decisions. And then there’s the “internal” factors like Why are we writing, What is our aim, and What would ultimately make us feel writing is worthwhile?
That said, maybe it’s time for you to give your novel a break and experiment with some other writing project — other genres, other story forms, other writing opportunities. That way you can exercise your gift while getting some distance between you and your novel. Whatever you decide, I don’t think giving up will resolve anything. Nor is it the right thing to do. You’re too good a writer, Jill.
“I told her it wasn’t, that I’d just beat the query system, which is a huge success to me whenever I manage that.”
That is a huge success. Especially with the digital revolution and the recession, I tend to think of publishing like a housing market. It’s a buyers’ market, not a sellers’. There’s a lot for sale out there, maybe more than ever. But fewer than ever are buying, and they can afford to do some extreme cherry-picking. This says you must be a cherry, m’dear. 🙂
I’m nobody to give you advice, but I surely do wish to encourage you and support you. Do what is best for you, what works for you, whatever gives you peace and a chance for the rawness to heal over.
Twenty years–that’s marvelous! I would love to sit and talk with you about everything you’ve seen and done and learned. In a world full of new writers with no concept of 10,000 hours of study and a contagion of selfpublishitis, to practice your art long and well is an achievement that I, for one, am tremendously encouraged to hear of.
Thank you–these were both very kind replies, very inspiring.
Mike, I always have about 4 projects going. I’ve also written mysteries, comedies, various types of poetry, light comic romances–I feel pretty stuck on magical realism/supernatural right now. It feels right to me, whereas the other genres never did–I wrote them just to be writing and practicing. But I could definitely go back to poetry. In any case, I’ve been blessed with a few blank days for writing, and I know exactly what I’ll work on. I have that tantalized feeling inside. 🙂 Okay, enough about me. I feel like a Narcissist. I’m very sorry for the person who has to quit for their health. I would probably only give it up for my family, which I’ve done over the years as necessary.
I agree. Keep it up! Although occassional breaks are allowed. 🙂
Though I certainly understand and can relate to those feelings of dissillusionment. Oh boy. Yep. (And I have a feeling we’re not alone.)
And perhaps the ISBN has muddied our vision so that writers are confused about their audience. I like to think of the writer sometimes as a communal craftsman. She has been above-average blessed. She can sand nouns and attach them to a well-fitted predicate. She uses her gift — locally — to speak life into those around her. And her work can multiply in a million handyman directions. Is she called to build sailboats? Maybe. Maybe not. Or maybe not now.
We have strayed far from our communities. Eventually, we do get to a place where we look around and Amazon looks like the only place where we (could?) belong.
Sometimes, we need to remember where we’re standing and take inventory of the hungry crowd which surrounds us. We can still put our loaves, fishes, and obsession to good use.
>So how do you know you’re not one of these writers?
I’ve quit before and will again–as a life choice. I wrote intensively for 2 youthful years, dropped it for 7 or 8 on the theory that I needed time to grow up first, did another 6 years of learning, took a year off. Been at it for another 2, will need a break again in a bit. I know I can pick it up and put it down. To me, that’s as important a life skill as knowing how to query. I can’t afford the psychology of an obsession. 🙂
I don’t believe in writing for publication, but I do believe in attempting publication as part of learning to write. I’ve had a lot of fun, published about 35 articles, and been offered a book contract based on my blogging. It’s all been niche work, but the editors are the real deal. I’ve opted out of situations where that wasn’t the case.
Yesterday, one of my editing clients thanked me from the podium as he accepted a Carol Award at ACFW. Another finaled in the Genesis, and wrote me recently to tell me she’d acquired an agent. I mentor in writing technique, but a lot of what I do is also soul-to-soul ministry: creating a safe zone where mistakes can happen, nothing need be embarrassing, and struggles get sorted out. I get to walk with other people in weakness, in fear and in much trembling. It’s the most amazing privilege in the world. It makes it okay to be my messy self.
She’s being modest. Catbert mentored me and I was the biggest mess. She just rocks. I was a semi-finalist in the Genesis and have a contract…all thanks to the hard work of a great editor and friend.
*blush* Gosh, thanks, Di…
Cat, this is a fantastic comment. Especially the part about knowing when to take a break being “as important a life skill as knowing how to query.” Thanks for sharing and congratulations on your mentoring successes!
Well, thanks, but it’s pretty much other people’s success. I’ve been blessed with a great bunch. (Psssst…look down one thread to Laurie M. and follow the link….she’s secretly awesome.)
Well, Cat, now you’ve gone and made me blush.
And to revisit the notion of getting published, I imagine that if I ever came up with a substantial work, such as a book, I would likely try to have it published. But having not gotten that far, I don’t give the publishing idea a great deal of head-play.
I’m not a great writer, and yet I write. I don’t ever expect to be published, or even to try. Neither do I plan to stop so long as there is something left that wants saying.
The first time I saw this guy on American Idol, I thought about how every year thousands of people attend writers conferences thinking they have the chops to be published, and yet, most are not published in a given year. Are we all deaf, as this singer is? How can a writer know he’s no good?
At first I laughed at the guy, and then I felt sorry for him, thinking no one had ever told him he can’t sing. Then at the very end I thought, “Well, he’s getting what he deserves. He refuses to hear when people tell him he can’t sing.”
Some of us can see that others should quit. Quit blaming the world’s intolerance for Christian content (as the singer did). Quit blaming the judges. Quit singing and try dancing. Quit one book and start another. Quit writing and take up knitting.
The problem is that people who should quit and don’t are usually so stubborn that they cannot hear when people tell them they are unsuited to the task.
There’s only one way we can hear, I think. We need to stop praying and asking God to give us a book contract and start praying and asking him to give us ears to hear.
Oh, and to answer the question about how I know I’m not one of those writers…I don’t know. That’s what I meant when I said we need to pray, asking for ears to hear. I don’t think any of us can know, unless we are able to hear others and trust that God has given them wisdom and knowledge and they are able to help us with our blind spots.
I tend to see every hindrance as God saying, “No, not now.” So I rest or slow down. I know other writers who see every hindrance as Satan trying to block God’s good plan for them to be published/sell a million books/win a major award, so they push harder.
I don’t know what the answer is to that. I trust God to tell me when to quit, I guess, and I just keep going and enjoying the journey for now.
Sally, I very much agree with you on this. However, it’s a hard pill to swallow for many. Writers must find a balance between self- confidence (“I know I can do this!”) and humility (“I know I’m not there yet”). It reminds me how valuable good critique partners are. I want to know if my writing sucks. And writers who are afraid to entertain the notion that they suck, often do. Maybe it goes back to a willingness to seek hard professional critique, rather than avoid or reject it.
I certainly want to get published…hum, well I guess I am…but I certainly want to eventually make a living on this, at least a supplemental retirement income by the time I get there.
But for me, at least, I will probably always write. Maybe that will change in the future, but for now, I can’t not write. I don’t know if it is an obsession, but it is what I feel I need to do.
Good points. But I do think I would err on the side of encouragment. I think each person has to decide for themselves, but an honest evaluation of things is needed. That said, while cliche, the truth is that there are many stories of people getting rejected X number of times before hitting it big. Which only goes to show rejections aren’t necessarily telling the story (because there are many more reasons you can get rejected than for lack of writing and story-telling ability).
But my idea is if you love to tell a story, tell a story and leave the results in God’s hands. If it gets published, if it becomes well known, great. Icing on the cake.
I have been writing all my life. I’ve earned money in various ways from writing. I was always told I was good at writing, from when I was small. My father was a writer, but he ended up as a journalist, an ideas guy more than a writer.
So why continue to write? Because you’ve got something to say. It’s not the writing, that’s just a choice of creative method. If you have nothing to say, don’t write.
I ended up at art college. I’ve spent twenty years making art. I’m good at art. I love making art. But after a long while it occured to me that what I was trying to do in my art was tell stories, create a narrative. And that’s the same as in my writing. So I decided to drop the art for a while and put the same narrative drive into writing.
See – you need to have a story in you. Then you can choose what language to express that story in. By language, I mean system of signs that our culture understands. There are many, using words is just one of them.
And the only thing that convinces me that I have to keep going is that there seems to be nothing else – no matter how diverted I get or how successful I am in other parts of my life (I built and ran an internet company in the nineties), I still find myself back at art and back at writing. I think that’s the key – to know that you have something to say and to be unable to stop trying to say it. The rest is beans.
Ivan, thanks for dropping by. This is a terrific observation: “you need to have a story in you. Then you can choose what language to express that story in.” Even before I decided to write professionally, I did things that expressed my “inner stories.” Art, music, preaching, woodwork. If I did stop writing, I would still have to find a way to creatively “vent.”
“you should become a writer only if you have no choice. Writing has to be an obsession — it’s only for those who say, ‘I’m not going to do anything else.” – THIS.
I’ve come to believe that the best thing about all the upheaval in the publishing world these days: ebook/not ebook, self-publishing/not self-publishing, legacy publishers struggling, mid-list mass market companies tanking (ALA Leisure Fiction), Borders closing and Barnes & Noble questionable, short story magazines folding, is this:
The dream of the full-time writer – with the exception of very few folks who already got there long ago – has become much rarer. Maybe, those days will never happen again. And yeah, unfortunately – the explosion of self-publishing, epublishing, small to mini to micro-presses has put us in such a wash of “authors”, almost anyone can be “published” these days. So why write? Why try to get published, at all?
Because you have to. And for whatever reason, you’re left with no other choice.
How do I know I MUST write?
Because I can’t NOT write.
And besides, I tell myself daily: “Someday, I’ll quit. Someday.”
Yeah, right. And I’ll quit breathing someday, too.
And, on a final note – I’ll quit yapping here, soon – I think this is why BALANCE is the key. Now, more than ever, a writer seriously pursuing publication needs strong foundations that have NOTHING to do with writing: family, friends, spouse, another job they feel proud of and like. If I didn’t have those things to turn to when the writing became tedious, I’d never turn back to the writing the next day.
I really agree with this last part, Kevin. “Now, more than ever, a writer seriously pursuing publication needs strong foundations that have NOTHING to do with writing: family, friends, spouse, another job they feel proud of and like.” Knowing when to flip the switch, turn off the writing in order to recreate, also seems important. Spending time with my family used to drain me because I thought of it as taking away from my writing time. Now, it’s almost the other way around.
Spending time with my family used to drain me because I thought of it as taking away from my writing time. Now, it’s almost the other way around.
Yep. Exactly, and this becomes even more important if you decide to start hitting the Con circuit – hitting even only 2 or 3 a year. Cons are great fun, it’s invigorating to hang out with other writers and share your experiences with them, they’re fertile grounds for opportunities with editors and publishers everywhere…but you can’t get sucked into it. Family has got to be the anchor that brings you back from that.
Mike, I think you’ve touched a nerve (which I’m willing to bet was your plan). While I might agree with you in principle, the final judgment is hard to make, and it’s possible to aim that judgment at the wrong problem.
I fly airplanes for a living. There are many who aspire to do this, but after observing some of them in the cockpit, it’s pretty clear that they must vastly improve, or they need to take up something safer–for themselves and anyone who might be riding with them.
But I’ve also met some aspiring pilots who showed talent, and their lack of skill could be traced to poor instruction. Not everyone with a flight instructor’s ticket is a good teacher. The same could be said for writing instructors. This industry is full of folks who must turn to other means to earn a living, so we have a host of poor writers trying to teach others how to do it. Ditto for editors: not everyone with a red ink pen is an editor.
Perhaps this is the problem for some writers at whom your post is aimed. It’s not a question of whether they should quit, but whether they should find a better “school,” or someone who truly has editing skill. This judgment alone can be difficult to make. I like Sally’s emphasis on prayer. If what we believe about God is true (and I hope everyone here can say ‘amen’), then ask him for the guidance he promises to give. Then follow it. While we should not be indifferent about the opinion of others, there’s only one that will matter in the end.
Jim, I absolutely agree with you on this. My first writing group was great but I actually had to “unlearn” some of their advice along the way. You wrote: “It’s not a question of whether they should quit, but whether they should find a better ‘school,’ or someone who truly has editing skill.” That’s spot on. I wonder how many struggling authors would benefit from a change of critique group or editor…
Thanks for visiting!
“Everywhere I go, I’m asked if I think the universities stifle writers. My opinion is that they don’t stifle enough of them. There’s many a best seller that could have been prevented by a good teacher.” – Flannery O’Connor
Should some “writers” quit? Yes. Absolutely. Part of figuring out what you are is realizing what you aren’t. There’s a time to learn from life’s lessons and move on.
Trouble is we don’t like letting go of our fantasies, and as you mentioned, self-publishing ( a real cash cow these days) is ample padding against work, perseverance, rejection slips, communication skills and other hard, sharp realities.
Of course we need to check our motives, but writers write. You might take a break, go through seasons where you’re discouraged, distracted, or pulled in other directions, but you come back to it. Because you can’t stay away. And if you do, there’s an ache, a void, that forever sits uneasily somewhere in your soul.
I do think we need to be careful throwing around the word ‘calling’. People are wired for things, yes. They have innate or developed skill sets, sure.
But a “calling” from God is more often to a task so far beyond our natural abilities it steps into the super-natural. In that place we can’t help but rely on Him, because it’s really His work and Him working – not us. And He definitely gets all the glory for any results.
I can’t think of a single instance where I would have advised someone to quit and I’m not likely to. In my experience, those who should quit ultimately do. It’s those folks who come to a few meetings of your local writers group, learn what’s involved in the process, and then decide that while the idea of writing a book was nice, they’re not all that into it after all. Or they write one book, learn what’s involved, and don’t do another.
While I certainly WANT to be published & earn extra income, my main reason for writing has always been to write the stories that I don’t find on the shelves. Though I do get so very weary b/c it’s hard to do all the research & the zillion other things involved in writing a book when you have the day job from hades plus all the other things you do in life, I’ve never seriously considered giving up. And I’ve had enough “props” from others to know that even though I’m still growing, I’m on the right track. And last but not least, while my life consists of other things, such as my work with the youth, the last thing I want is for my tombstone to list my accomplishments as “was tortured to death by job X.”
Writing allows me to reach for something deeper and I don’t want to waste the opportunity. I put off pursuing my writing dreams till I was 34-35 years old. And the older I get, the faster time flies, so I can’t afford to lay off now. *-)
Brenda, I wouldn’t tell anyone to quit, either, because I’m not sure I know what’s best for everyone else. 🙂 But I wonder how many of us are missing out on what God wants to give us, because we stubbornly keep writing when he has no plan to bless that effort. I have taken a lot of time away from my children because I’ve been pursuing publishing. My youngest turned 18 today and I am struck by how much more time I could have given her if I hadn’t been pursuing publishing. (It’s not the writing that stole the time, but the Internet, the research, the conferences.) I thought I’d be published (any moment now–I always thought) and it would all be worth it. I can never get those years back, and even if I had been published I don’t know that it would have been worth it.
Was the gal who owned Secretariat right to neglect her family? Did it make it all OK when he won? She got divorced shortly after he won. Was running her own race what God wanted her to do?
These are questions we can only answer for ourselves, so I don’t tell others to quit. But I have seen many writers, published and unpublished, that make me wonder if they couldn’t spend their time more profitably for their families, their neighbors, and Christ’s kingdom by giving up the writing and doing something else.
so funny that you mentioned that, sally–i noticed that in the movie secretariat, too, and wondered how those kids turned out. yes, we don’t want to get to the point where we’re neglecting the biggest difference we can make as moms–rearing our children in the Lord and being THERE for them–in hopes of pleasing God w/our writing.
I don’t know that it’s safe to ever tell someone to “quit”.
“Quit for awhile” is more like it, or, “Take a break.”
I wouldn’t want to advise someone to miss out on the potentially healthy, cathartic experience of writing. I *would* advise someone to take a break if the writing is causing illness or problems. From my experience, writing just isn’t worth the grief. To think God is calling us to overwork ourselves because we have such an *important* message is grandiose thinking (which I am very good at, by the way).
The other day, I had an epiphany. God is calling me not to write. 🙂 “Quit writing, Jessica, you are making yourself ill (or have already done so, or contributed to it, at least).” So, for the next several months, I will be learning how to ignore that hungry (manic) urge to create. (Those are some nasty teeth. Watch out.)
“I don’t know that it’s safe to ever tell someone to ‘quit’.”
Yes, I agree with that. It’s presumptive, at the least. However, telling someone to keep pressing on could also be bad advice. Nevertheless, I think we’re guilty of doing that too much. Years ago I applied for a job with the railroad. I attended an orientation for applicants. The speaker spent an hour describing how hard the job was. “If you have a life, a family, and weekends free, you do not want to work for the railroad.” I left at the first intermission. Frankly, I wish more aspiring authors would hear a similar exhortation before they assume the author’s mantle.
Jessica, please let us know how your little writing break goes, okay? Godspeed…
But it isn’t equally presumptive to enable someone in to continue in futile pursuit of a pipe dream?
Jessica, I feel for you. Don’t make yourself ill. Maybe you could keep a journal or something like that?
Too often beginning writers (and more than a few “advanced” writers) equate writing with novels or non-fiction books…books of any sort. They don’t understand that there is a world of opportunity for someone who wants to be a writer. The hard cold fact is, more people make a living playing professional baseball than writing novels. However…there are untold thousands of writers making a nice living writing everything else.
Also, many people I run into at conferences, etc. seem more in love with the idea of having written. The problem is, the actual work part (and it IS work) gets in the way.
And as for being called, maybe that’s not as big a deal as Christian writers make it out to be. What about the person who is not called to write but simply asks God every day to bless their writing efforts the same way they ask God’s blessing on everything else they do because it is something they want to do to glorify Him? Can you see God saying, “Nope, it wasn’t my idea”? If you’re called, you’ll know it. You won’t have to agonize over it. God will let you know when you need to know (as an ordained minister, I am speaking from experience). and if you’re not called, so what.
Writing is our job. Blessing it is God’s. So let’s just worry about our end.
so glad i found your blogspot! i’ve definitely blogged about these thoughts myself. when you feel like God wants you to write, has given you this talent, and is PUSHING you to do it, what do you do when your novel(s) aren’t picked up? when they don’t fit into Christian bookstores b/c they’re too realistic, and don’t fit into secular shelves b/c they’re written w/a Christian worldview? do you tell yourself to keep going (believing all your loving followers)? or do you give up? i’ve done both, but finally come back to the truth that God wants me to do it, and it’s going to be HARD. i’m going to have to REVISE (ugh). i will not give in and write senseless amish werewolf romance just to get a place in the market. i’m going to write what God lays on my heart, and someday, i trust He’s going to do something with it. i’m interested in reading more about YOUR books, as well.
So many directions you can take this discussion…
I’ve written two manuscripts, one is solo and the other is part of a four-piece series. I’m currently writing the second part. I’m doing probably what many of you are doing…working at a job you marginally like and writing on the side in hopes of the Big Dream. God has been working on me though…am I trusting in Him or in a Big Dream? Have my books become idols for making a living? I will admit that I’m not sure if I want to write as a career, or just do it on the side, but I’ve really had to come to terms with the reality of publishing, my own skill (like many, I could really use someone professional to come along and say dude, you might re-think all of this or yeah, you’ve got talent) and what God really wants for me.
I wonder if many are good writers but perhaps the end goal is not publishing fiction or non-fiction in such a narrow sense. There are lots of writing opportunities but the clicker is that many of them don’t involve anything inside the Big Dream. My Dad used to write quite a bit and now is a regional manager for an ice cream company…because of his writing ability, he’s been asked by high level management to write lots of different company things. We must be careful that we don’t convince ourselves that because we can write, this surely means God will get us published and on the road to the Big Dream.
And motivations…if God asked me just to write for Him, would I do it? Really? I’ve struggled with it…come on, who wants to spend so much time pounding away on the keyboard and not receive any recognition?
And perhaps a touch of realism: there are what, hundreds or thousands who want to be successful published writers? It can’t happen to all of them (us) and I would probably do myself a favor to say I might be in that group that doesn’t make it…and then I need to be able to say, it is enough that I simply wrote a manuscript and my family can enjoy it if they like…or I could even do something crazy and just put it on the internet, free of charge…
hey there bobby, nice post–just wanted to say that if God wanted me to write just for Him, i’d gladly do it—at least that would mean i could be WRITING! but yes, we never know what field we can best be used in, until we try different things (kinda like spiritual gifts). i do think that He’s often pleased to use our talents as a way to make a living. but i also think there’s something to be learned in the waiting (learning that myself). a critique group (in your genre) is an AWESOME thing for outside feedback, i’m finding–they’re usually no-holds-barred. that gives you a better idea if what you’re writing is appealing to anyone other than yourself.
Great article, and great comments.
I write because …..////????!!!!. All the endings to this sentence seem to fit me in some way. Someone once said it will eventually pay up to $.17 per hour-that works for me. Acollades, bring them on. I can’t not, not, not not write (I think). I’m putting about seven hours a week into it, it’s doable. I’m good at it, I’ve finally come to that realization. It’s fun, fun fun. God is ok with it because He loves me.
I’ve got one motivation that nobody, I’ve read so far, has touched on. Lost words and lost theology. God’s precepts for some words has all but been lost, mans precept for those words has obsscured Truth. I call myself the retrever of lost theology. When my books (Global Warning) comes out and I get the web site up you will here much more about it. Untill then, everybody…. keep writting.
Not sure if it’s too late to jump in here, but I definitely see the distinction between the ‘obsessed’ and those wanting the accolades. I’m an obsessive writer – have been for over a quarter century – and moved into the other arena of those seeking recognition about 7 years ago. Sometimes I think I was happier in the bliss of my own little world. I liked what I was writing and for many years that was enough.
It grates on me when I hear people say ‘I should write a book!” as if it were the easiest thing in the world. They have no idea of the sweat and tears, albeit a labor of love, that we obsessives go through. They aren’t true writers, although some may sell some books.
Finally, obsession alone isn’t enough. I’ve conversed with lots of writers who place themselves in the obsessed category, but when I’ve read their writing, it pretty much sucks. (Sorry, just sayin’) Maybe some people need to be told …. kind of like on American Idol when a really terrible singer comes out and thinks they’re good because no one in their circle had the heart to tell the truth.
Easy. I tried to quit. The results weren’t pretty.
I love writing. Unfortunately, I prefer writing speculative fiction. I say “unfortunately”, because my parents consider that useless.
So I tried to quit, to make them happy. And I discovered that writing is what keeps my hormone disorder from giving me perpetual PMS. I’m not kidding. My mood swings are horrific, and I get crabby to boot.
I guess that means I’m insane…?
I think about quitting writing nearly every day! :p
And it’s not because I doubt my “talent” or because I haven’t “arrived” like I want to. I actually like my stories, think I’ve got a pretty good handle on what I do best (though there’s always room for improvement, or course). I’m published, I’m sitting on a bookshelf in a brick and mortar store–that is to day, I’ve accomplished all I wanted to as an author.
But, man, writing is stressful. Sure, when I catch a creative wave, it’s a rush, but then you realize that your critics are going to be reading your book and you’re not so sure any of it is worth it. What if they hate it? Worse, what if they thought it was “meh” after you put your heart and soul into it?
Mostly I think of all the other things I could be doing. I’d much rather be getting my brain cells melted by a Transformers movie or playing Gears of War, you know? I’d like to sit at the dinner table with my family for once and not feel that urge to hurry through the meal so I can run to the computer and get a little bit written before it’s time to help give the kids a bath.
I think “urge” is the right word. I don’t know if I’d say I felt “called” to write, but I certainly feel “compelled” to write. It’s a compulsion. I have stories I HAVE to tell–and, like I said, a wave comes rushing through and I gotta catch it and ride it out to see where it leads. I HAVE to.
But I’m always imagining this mythical day when there are no more waves to catch, no more stories to tell, no more words to write. I imagine I can “rest in peace” creatively speaking, and go back to long country drives, family cookouts, watching movies, actually READING a book for a change. I don’t know if that day will ever come–at least not in any permanent sense. I’m not so sure that, if that day DID come, that I’d enjoy it. Maybe it’d just make me miserable.
Kevin’s got great advice a few comments above mine. You’ve got to make time to slow down and DO NOTHING. Sometimes doing nothing is the best thing you could be doing as a writer.
But if you CAN quit writing, and you don’t feel that compulsion to return to it after awhile, then maybe you were never meant to be “a writer” after all.
Oh, thank you, Greg. Bless you. That’s the thought process I often go through as well. (Yay, it’s not just me!) I have a mythical day in mind also, and yet I also wonder whether I’d enjoy it. When I do take a break, it’s like getting sand under my skin a la Rudyard Kipling’s just-so rhinoceros. I wonder how much the need for rest will change when the family years pass.
Hah – when the family years pass! Is that what you said my speculative loving friend?
“But, man, writing is stressful.”
It is! Why can’t it just be fun…the way we imagined it. I’ve had to take a break because when I start to consider my projects or my to-do list, I get a boulder in my stomach. Like you say, there is sooo much to do, so many ideas, I will never get it all done! Therein lies a great life lesson God is no doubt trying to teach me–finding peace no matter the circumstances…even peace with the undone. *That’s* my big problem right now, I simply cannot find peace in the midst of so many loose ends. !! I can let loose ends go in most other areas of my life, quite well actually, but when it comes to my writing, I *have* to tie everything up. In other words, I have to finish these 10 things NOW, before my brain explodes! Ack! (That is not a sustainable internal status quo.)
All that said, I may be naive, but I believe our work should be fun, and if it starts to feel *too much* like (dreaded) work, something’s amiss. Most likely I’m taking myself and my work way too seriously.
“Mostly I think of all the other things I could be doing.”
Now, this may be where the obsession part comes in, because I’m the opposite. I’m always thinking when I’m doing everything else, “Man…all the things I could be writing right now…”
It’s very hard for me to “come up for air”. I’ve gotten to the point in my life in which I’ve sacrificed television, sleep, and, yeah…shamefully…some leisure time with friends because I just want to write and not do anything else. But I’ve forced myself to limit the amount of writing I do in a day, forced myself into a state of balance, (such as it is), and that, I think, has paid far greater dividends than writing 4-5 hours at a clip.
I get two hours a day, first thing in the morning. I feed my “fix”. That done, I feel free to live the rest of my day and enjoy it. It’s a weird thing: I need that balance in the long run, to avoid burnout, but the bottom line: I’d be a miserable person, grumpy Dad and father, and disaffected, bitter teacher if I WASN’T writing, every day.
But notice…I didn’t say the word “published” in there…
In my experience the people who stick with writing are the ones who read for very different reasons than the average reader. Yes they read to be entertained but they also read because their mind and soul yearns from something more than day dreaming and television. And as they read, their mind keeps turning to how they might tell a similar story. Then it moves to how they might tell a very different story. Then it moves to how that might tell a very different story in a very different way. The see possibilities that beg to put on paper. Published or not, that person IS a writer.
I have several good friends that see writing as a neat idea. Something they always wanted to try their hand at. But every time a sacrifice, however small, has to be made to pursue that idea further they find a reason to postpone that sacrifice to another day. One has even managed to get published (how I do not know) but still treats it as a nice hobby if nothing else gets in the way. Published or not, that person IS NOT a writer.