Love-Hate

I love writing. I love having ideas and making stories out of them. I love the way writing has made me look at the world (from both sides; considerately) and I like having written.

I do hate sending stuff out. Everything boils down to "Writing" and "Not-Writing," and I have very little patience for most things in the Not Writing category. Submission is one of them. I used to be very sporadic about submitting, because it was time spent Not Writing.

I love being inspired, either by an idea or a word or a beautiful sentence or a concept or a character or a theme or an imagery or a sound or a vision of something powerful.

I love the creation process - making something out of nothing but your own imagination. I love having characters and stories that take me somewhere I've never dreamed of, and surprise and delight me to no end.

I love the power of words and stories that transport a total stranger into your world and see, smell, hear, feel, and taste everything you created. And in the process, there's that connection even though there's time and space between us.

I love the freedom to be a writer -- to write about things I believe in, trust, or like. I love the freedom to do it at my own pace. I love the freedom to explore and learn and grow. I love the freedom to say what I really want to say.

....

I hate writer's block. HATE IT.

I hate feeling unmotivated, as if all my creative juices have been drained, that I'm just husk of a man pretending to be something I'm not.

I hate feeling like I'm a fraud. Self-doubt can be crippling.

I hate the solitude. The feeling that sometimes I'm all alone, and no one understands what I'm trying to do.

I hate rejections -- not so much that I hate not being "validated" but the fact that someone dares to say "I am telling you that you're not good enough for me." Even though I know rejections are rarely personal, it's just a necessary evil in this process.

I hate not knowing: not knowing when you'll make it; not knowing what "making it" really means; not knowing IF you'll ever make it. There's no definitive prescribed path to publishing success, and sometimes I just feel like I'm slogging along without a precise destination.

I hate losing control -- my characters, my stories, my mind.

I hate having to write things about which I have absolutely no interest in writing.

I hate being taken for granted.

I hate Starbucks or Panera Bread running out of free A/C outlets.

Love:
The basic act of writing. Sitting in front of a screen and typing - then reaching the point of being unaware I'm writing.

Kicking around an idea for a few weeks before plannning it properly. In that time, the idea is mine.

Finishing the first draft even though it will be messy and in dire need of editing.

Finshing the final draft, printing it and handing it to my girlfriend.

Hate:
The days when the words just don't come.

The little voice that says I should concentrate on work, family, friends...anything but this waste of time and energy that will never get me anywhere.

Being asked if I'm published and the intimation that as I'm not, I'm not a writer.

My old job - I loved the fact that my writing had an impact on recent Aussie history. In the end I hated the pressure that came with it.

My new job - I love writing reports for people who appreciate them. I hated having to write a resume after 17 years of not needing one (over 20 re-writes).

Writing for me - I have loved the journey (so far) in creating my characters and story for my first writing project. I love the fact that I am writing for me and there are no dependencies on the result. Having said that, I know that I will hate it if nobody likes it.

JJ

Like Most: It's simple...I feel most like my self when I am lost in my writing.

Hate: Seeing in the distance the perfect way to write something, but not being able to reach it. That feeling of tip-of-the-tongueness...when you don't quite achieve the goal.

I love every other sentence I write.

I hate the rest of them.

I love writing in these threads, but I hate the person who starts them.

I love seeing characters and worlds grow out of my imagination, and I love making them real for others. I love it when someone tells me my work touched them or made them think. I love stepping out of myself and into someone else, even just for an hour or two.

I hate the insecurity, I hate staring at the words on the page and feeling they're not good enough. I hate that I can't always find the words to say what I want to say. And I hate that I can't submit to paying publications (visa restriction) so I can't find out how good (or bad) I really am.

I love my characters. I love learning about them as I write, and watching them trip me up sometimes.
I love holding the finished pages in my hands.
I love imagining what the next excellent scene is going to look like when I'm done.
I love those wacky thoughts that pop up while I'm driving or showering or sitting at my son's soccer practice, ideas that turn out to be precisely what I needed to finish a scene or chapter.

I hate my characters. Some days they just want to sit in the sun and do nothing to help me tell their stories.
I hate printing all the finished pages and realizing there's a hideous error halfway through.
I hate when I know what needs to come next, but I just can't make it work on paper.

I love writing fiction and poetry, and reading it when it turns out as I hoped.

I hate that no one will put me on a nice salary to sit in front of my computer for three hours a day and play with the people in my head.

I love the fandom aspects of being published. A little money too, cause I need it.

I hate the time it takes to write the damn thing, the stress and lonliness, with NO assurance that it will be well received, or even received at all.

Tri

What a phenomenal question--thanks for posting it!

I love getting something out of my head and on to paper for theoretical sharing (agents and publishers apparently wanting to maintain the secrecy of the ideas...) with anyone lucky enough to read my stuff.

I hate everything that comes after typing "the end."

I love using language, creating worlds and people with it, evoking feelings and sparking readers' imaginations. Language has always fascinated me, the feel and feelings of words, the power of a really good one, in any language, is very cool.

I love every moment when I'm in the flow with my creation. I'm never happier than when I'm writing. Everything is right and good.

I love the sudden inspirations, those moments of brilliance that make me giddy as they take me in a direction I need to go, in a way I never planned.

I hate that sometimes the words stick, the vision falls flat, and the characters roll their eyes at me.

I hate when inspiration strikes and I could write entire scenes with it, but I'm walking to the bus stop with nothing but a new paperback in my hand and a pen in my purse. Had to write things down inside the book this morning. Desecration! But now I've got some of that inspiration preserved for later.

I hate hate hate that I'm not more disciplined.

Like most others -

I love creating people and situations that didn't exist before. I love watching my own little 'movie' play out inside my head as I write the words. I absolutely love entertaining strangers with those words and hearing them fall in love with the characters I created. I love playing god in my worlds, throwing wrenches at my characters to watch how they react, get out of the way, or take a hit.

I love the idea that I'm putting something down that will last beyond me. And I love the odd anonymity that being a writer affords me.

I hate the feelings of doubt that creep in during the writing process. I hate that the more I learn about writing, the harder it is to get a new story started. I hate that I stink at query writing and that the brick wall between me and the shelf at Barnes & Noble is so high, so thick, and so hard to get my ass over.

It's a love/hate relationship

Love: the groupies and 6-figure cheques.

Hate: waking up.

Love: waking up

Hate: the groupies and 7-figure cheques. Fame and fortune, bah!

Love: Being able to create anyone.
Hate: People (non-writers) always wanting to read your stuff.

I hate that I can't get published...but that's mostly because I'm too lazy to keep sending stuff out.

I can't think of anything I love about it actually. I like writing but I do it because I get really twitchy if I don't. Oh and I also hate when I get twitchy and can't write...people start to think I have some strange disease.

Writing

I've had jobs where I got shot at quite often, and got hit twice. I've worked shoveling coal fourteen hours per day. I've cleaned out horse stalls, baled hay, worked in a lumberyard, and as a lumberjack. I've waded icy streams in the dead of winter. I've dug ditches. I've cleaned brick, and spent all day long carrying brick and block. I've seen times where I work three manual labor jobs in the same day. Eighteen hours per day, six days per week to make ends meet. On and on.

So every time I sit down to write I want to laugh like a madman. Not only do I really enjoy the process of writing, I'm also my own boss, I do what I want, when I want, and how I want. And I'm getting paid to do it.

I mean, damn!

aka eraser said:

Love: the groupies and 6-figure cheques.

Hate: waking up.

Click to expand...

Yah-that sounds about right

Jamesaritchie said:

I've had jobs where I got shot at quite often, and got hit twice. I've worked shoveling coal fourteen hours per day. I've cleaned out horse stalls, baled hay, worked in a lumberyard, and as a lumberjack. I've waded icy streams in the dead of winter. I've dug ditches. I've cleaned brick, and spent all day long carrying brick and block. I've seen times where I work three manual labor jobs in the same day. Eighteen hours per day, six days per week to make ends meet. On and on.

So every time I sit down to write I want to laugh like a madman. Not only do I really enjoy the process of writing, I'm also my own boss, I do what I want, when I want, and how I want. And I'm getting paid to do it.

I mean, damn!

Click to expand...

yah that too!

I get paid to tell lies for a living. Who else can say that? (Well, apart from politicians and used-car salesmen.)

I don't like doing my accounts and tax returns.

Oh, and the office Christmas party is a bit of a letdown.

I love....

• seeing my thoughts take coherent shape on the page
• how writing keeps my mind limber
• when I reach THE END
• when someone approaches me on the street and tells me they read and enjoyed my column -- I REALLY love that

I hate....

• when my creativity is at a low ebb and everything I put down reads like mush
• when I look at the word count and realize how far there is to go
• when someone approaches me on the street and tells me they read my column and starts acting like we're best friends and asks if they can use my phone or get a ride someplace -- I REALLY hate that