Friday, March 23, 2012

{RNW} Having "It"

It has been far too long since I have chatted with you about writing.  Afterall, let's be honest . . . writing has been pretty sparse around here these days as has been evident from the lack of posts as well!  I have been attending a number of author events, however, and one topic has come up that has me thinking; therefore, I turn to my readers to hear your thoughts!  Today in Ramblings of a Night Writer {RNW}, I talk about having "it."  Let me first explain what I mean . . .

During an event with J.A. Jance, this acclaimed author shared her journey to becoming a writer.  This entailed being a single mom, working long hours, yet waking up at 4:00 am to write for a few hours before starting her day.  Then, I attended an event with Lauren Oliver.  She didn't wake up before the sun rose for the day, but instead wrote an entire novel (Before I Fall, in case you are wondering) on her blackberry while riding the subway to and from work.  These stories are not uncommon among authors who have become published.

Then, you have people like me!  I barely have enough time to write as it is.  I write here on the blog.  I do a bit of freelance.  I write down a multitude of ideas and map out stories.  BUT, I don't get up early in the morning.  In fact, I HATE mornings.  I do not even write paragraphs on my own personal smart phone.  As the name of this feature implies, I tend to do most of my writing at night and many nights, I am so exhausted that I only write a bit on random nights.  Stories remain unwritten.  Journals even remain mostly neglected.

My husband and I have discussed the idea of me taking a year to devote strictly to my writing.  I don't know if this will actually happen, but I get excited at the prospect.  But then, I begin to wonder if it will be worth it.  When I hear these amazing stories from these talented authors, I begin to question my will, my desire, and my determination.  Simply . . . am I meant to write a novel?

Do you find yourself questioning if you have the "it" factor?  Are you experiencing the same doubts?  Do you believe a solution exists?

17 comments:

  1. I think this evaluation process applies to other areas of life too. I would love to homeschool Z but I can't imagine waking up and getting down to business every morning. Instead, I leave it to people who have chosen to do it as a career -- a career that starts at 8:30am. I want to be a zookeeper but you have to start with overnight and weekend shifts and I just can't make that work in life right now. But does that mean that I won't ever see a benefit in homeschooling that outweighs my dread of mornings? Will I ever have a time in life when working on the weekends doesn't sound so bad? It's entirely possible. So maybe it's not so much an "it" factor but rather a timing issue -- maybe this just isn't a point in your life where you have time to write. If you took a year off, you would definitely have that time and would probably restructure your life somewhat to make it work. My suggestion? Wait until the kids are both in all day school -- write all night, get them off in the morning and then snooze all day. It's not what most other writers do but if it would work for you then who cares. :)

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    1. I love this response and it makes me feel so much better! If I decide to take a year off to focus on writing, it will be the year that both kids are in school full-time I think. Only time will tell and I will hopefully have more information before this year ends. Who knows?!? I may even be near you when it is all said and done!

      BTW, I hate mornings, too!

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  2. I worry about whether I can write ENOUGH to make a living as an author. Even if I have nothing to do all day, I still don't want to write for 8 hours of it!

    I agree with Kristen that you have to figure out what works best for you. Those authors woke up early or wrote on their phones because it worked--it wasn't ideal, probably, but that was the best solution. If I woke up at four I'd be too cranky to do anything other than tweet about how early it was. ;)

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    1. LOL! I am so glad to hear that I am far from being the only one that does not care for mornings! On a serious note, I think you bring up another good point. I don't know if I can write that long either! I've never done it before!

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  3. Kristen, I'm a homeschool mom of three. My youngest is now fifteen. I NEVER started school that early...lol. We got up late and because I taught all year round, we had shorter days. This was way back when and our schedule has drastically change. I miss those late mornings...lol.

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  4. Tif, this post hits home with me. This was supposed to be my year. Remember? I was going to cut loose. Instead, I am in knots and can’t seem to get out of it. My most productive year was when I began the 365 Days of Novel Writing. Somehow, posting daily about what I was going to do whether I failed or not helped ground me. And I need something to ground me. My life is total chaos! I’m considering going back to blogging again. Am I totally insane?

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    1. I don't think you would be totally insane! I'm still around!! :) I think that the accountability says something. I find myself writing more when I'm talking about it. I feel like I have to "walk the walk" if you know what I mean!

      With that said, I'm still not sure how much writing I can claim that I have actually completed this year!!! :)

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    2. I'm in a sucky place right now. Much has to do with health and another portion has to do with my schedule. I need to simply chill. I'm not use to not having energy. My attitude all my life has been that I can be all and do all. Having NO energy some days is messing with my positive mental attitude. Not only that, one days I feel good, I suffer from memory loss, I totally forget I'm not at 100% yet.

      So for now, I'm chilling...and of course, we'll be back to discussing this again since I will totally forget as soon as I have a normal day. :)

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    3. LOL! It probably doesn't help that it takes me forever to respond some days, too?!? :)

      I hope that you get back to 100% soon. When you get in one of those low places, it really does affect everything. If I find any extra energy here, I will send it along to you! :)

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    4. Too funny. Actually, you taking that long to get back to me feels normal. It's how I work. :) Energy is returning and I'm joining that writing challenge, the one I sent you a link to. I'll be taking it SUPER slow, something I've never done. By doing so, I'll have created a new habit.

      I do want to add that if you'd told me three, heck, two years ago, I'd be taking anything slow, I'd have laughed and laughed. Probably wouldn't have stopped laughing until I ran out of breath. I've had to change my entire way of thinking. Slow is a term that's foreign to me. I've always lived my life as a Roman candle. And though I miss those days, I'm going to make this work.

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    5. I love your determination! :) I just checked out that writing challenge information you sent me today and I'm now signed up for the email updates. I think I may give it a try. Help myself get a bit more serious about my story writing! Thanks for passing it along!

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  5. Tif, last night, I received an email notice from a blog I subscribe to. The post that arrived is titled How Much Should You Write Every Day? Here's the link: http://writetodone.com/2012/03/24/how-much-should-you-write-every-day/

    The "Build Your Writing Muscles" is dead-on, well, for me. I've been frazzled. After sleeping on this, I'm going to simply step back until the middle of May when my schedule will change again. Until then, I'm going to write in my journal and hopefully get some reviews completed. My whole goal between now and then is to remove the mental stress...which has been generated by me over expectations not being met.

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    1. This is a really great article, and perfect timing for me! Thank you so much for sharing this one!! I think I need to read this one more than once actually! I will be coming back to it again!! :)

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  6. Changing the subject....any idea why my pic is a question mark?

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    1. I'm wondering if it is because I upgraded to the new blogger interface. That's when I started noticing the change myself. (And, for the record, not sure what I think of this new upgrade yet!)

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    2. Seems like there was just too much change all at once.

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    3. I completely agree with that statement!

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