y'all still writing?

The knowledge that this is the only thing I'm any good at.

I have this nightmare.
A drunk blows through a red light. I'm the guy he hits. I spend the last few minutes of my existence coughing up blood in a mangled car while the fourth chapter of my WIP waits at home, a cursor blinking patiently beside the last period I typed.

Angelinity... please don't harsh my realm...

I once read that publishing is NOT like the lottery, where only a certain percentage of writers are going to "win" - ie., get published. A good book gets agents excited, gets publishers excited, gets authors published.

I strive to write a good book that will get an agent and a publisher excited.

Still chuggin' away. I'm on one of those high notes right now, where you learn some new fact that you think will change everything and make it all better. Of course, I realize it's not that easy, but I am feeling a lot more positive now. Now I'm actually going to try and deliver my value as well as create it.

I'm a new author who got a book deal this year, after years in the trenches, so my advice is to keep going. Forget the economy, keep writing.

Barrett said:

I have this nightmare.
A drunk blows through a red light. I'm the guy he hits. I spend the last few minutes of my existence coughing up blood in a mangled car while the fourth chapter of my WIP waits at home, a cursor blinking patiently beside the last period I typed.

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Fourth chapter?

Do you write like 15,000 word chapters because chap 4 isn't very far in the book.

scarletpeaches said:

The knowledge that this is the only thing I'm any good at.

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Ditto.

I've tried to quit. Twice that I know of. My characters and soon-to-be characters just laugh at me and take bets on how long it'll be before I start writing again. I'm their slave, what can I say. Can't complain though, I enjoy telling their stories too much to stop.

scarletpeaches said:

The knowledge that this is the only thing I'm any good at.

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This is sort of it, for me... except that I can be good at lots of things. I'm pretty smart, I can excel at most things if I apply myself and put the effort in...

The thing is, I am lazy and hate effort. Writing is one of the few things I don't have to really work at. Don't get me wrong--I do work at improving, it is a slog to write something large, and it is serious work, but at the end of the day, writing itself on a basic level is very easy for me, and so I enjoy it for that.

It's one of those "well, fuck, I have a talent for only this one thing, might as well do it" things.

I've been going since I was a wee one. Making up stories by writing them is just something I like to do. It helps keep the blues at bay.

lucidzfl said:

Fourth chapter?

Do you write like 15,000 word chapters because chap 4 isn't very far in the book.

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Exactly, not very far at all.
I'm more worried of having something stop me at the beginning so that there's no hope of anyone understanding it. A nearly finished work would be just as horrifying, but at least the larger picture would be discernable.

It's right when I get my feet under me, when I really feel I've got something going, that I get a tad nervous.

I'm a lucky man*. I don't have to write as a means of financial support or supplement. I don't have to write to satisfy a need for developing and expressing creativity (day job supplies that). I don't have to write to gain the joy of creative accomplishment (day job again). This makes it very liberating to say that writing fiction and poetry continues to be a unique intellectual challenge that involves a different kind of creativity, one that spawns the same desire to actively learn and to accomplish. Also, it's still great fun.

*I didn't fall into my day-work, nor was it given to me. Becoming a lucky man required that I work my ass off to find that "luck." And it's ongoing. Being a lucky man means I found something I love so that "ass-off work" is desirable and easy to embrace. And now that I'm writing, I can say I've found two somethings to love, which means two things worth dedication of my creative abilities (such as they are) and of my hard work.

In response to the question, "Why do you write?" I frequently see the response, "I can't not write." I CAN not write. My motivation to write is just as strong as anyone else's, but it's the complement to motivation, the desire to write (there is a subtle difference), that keeps it all going for me. If those two (motivation and desire) are found, Angel, you are back.

Those grapes are oh, so sour, aren't they?

Not sure if that comment was for me, and I don't really see where there is a sour grapes sentiment in my post. What I was trying to say is if we strip off all of the dreams of financial gain (not everyone is in it for the money, although money would be nice), all of the desire for acknowledgement of our creativity (not all need this as well), what is left is probably much the same in all of us--the desire to write. And that can wax and wane. If that desire is re-discovered and motivation is there, one will write.

Because there's a great story in here somewhere, somehow. And I want to give it life.

As for why I don't stop when it's hard, that's because I'm deathly afraid of losing it. So I won't, dammit.

I like to write. And I have stories to tell so I tell them.

The interesting thing is that I think the plot to my UNFINISHED 2nd novel is more interesting/original than my completed novel (that I am querying). GAH.

i just finished the first draft of my first novel. what keeps me going, honestly, is my desire to show myself that i can actually do this.

It's just like our resident Sage says,

I promise you faithfully, there isn't a publisher anywhere whose rejection slips read, "Sorry! Too well-written and original for us!" -James D. MacDonald

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Ergo, as long as we write well, and don't make carbon copies of other books, there is no presumable reason to stop writing.

I've had to put my writing on hold while I get my boss' new website out of the way. I'm rusty at website development and I don't enjoy it at all. If I write, I know I'll put off the website and it's already taken too long. My motivation lays entirely with the reward of writing at the end.

scarletpeaches said:

The knowledge that this is the only thing I'm any good at.

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chrisrose331 said:

Ditto.

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I don't know how to answer this question any better than this.

NeuroFizz said:

In response to the question, "Why do you write?" I frequently see the response, "I can't not write." I CAN not write. My motivation to write is just as strong as anyone else's, but it's the complement to motivation, the desire to write (there is a subtle difference), that keeps it all going for me. If those two (motivation and desire) are found, Angel, you are back.

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And if I can completely agree with one other thing...