Love and Hate
Lori at AbsoluteWrite posted an interesting question: What do you love about being a writer? What do you hate about being a writer?
There are so many things. But here are some of my answers:
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. 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.
There are so many things. But here are some of my answers:
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. 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.
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