Originally Posted by
Karen Marie
This answer might be more ponderous and dense than you were looking for….
I can’t remember what I was reading—it might have been Voltaire—but I came across a quote about writing that hit home hard for me. I’m paraphrasing here because I did a quick search and couldn’t locate the actual quote:
“Writing is an odd thing. It simultaneously requires a total immersion of self, and a total renunciation of self.”
Writing is one of the most selfish things I do yet also the most self-less.
“Selfish” because I get up, close that door to my study and the world ceases to exist. Family, bills, reality all vanish with the shutting of that door and I slide into a place where I create and I destroy and there are no rules but those I make up and am willing to enforce.
“Selfless” because when I close that door, I cease to exist too. I become a conduit for whatever story I’m telling. I forget to eat, I forget to sleep, I can’t understand why a bill is important to pay. I know many writers who seem able to live perfectly well while they’re writing a book but I’m not one of them. I get so absorbed that nothing else matters. Things, events, even people, fall by the wayside. During the seven months I wrote Shadowfever, I left my house four times.
Balance? I have no idea what balance is. I think that’s why I only do one book a year. I write for six or seven months, forget I’m real, then I have to live for five months to catch up on everything I ignored while I was writing. So, I guess I’m not the best person to ask for advice on this, other than to say “you’re not alone, I have the same problem’ LOL.
As far as encouragement goes, this I can help with: don’t look for it, stop wanting it. As long as you do, other people can have too much impact on your possible future. I know, easy to say, hard to live. But you must. You must want to be published so badly that it doesn’t matter what anyone around you says or doesn’t say. You have to burn up with the hunger for it, dream of it, project yourself into it, know deep down inside that YOU ARE NOT GOING TO STOP UNTIL YOU SUCCEED. The only way you can fail is if you stop trying. And if someone asks how that “little book” is coming (God, how many times did I hear that?) smile and say, fine, thanks for asking. And repeat silently to yourself, “I will succeed. Nothing will stop me.”
If you don’t feel strong or courageous enough, that’s okay because it doesn’t always take courage or strength to succeed. Sometimes it just takes a healthy dose of the desperation of a drowning man coupled with perseverance and a smidgen of talent. Ryodan would say ‘rage is gasoline’ (and then go on to warn about how it can torch everything.) I would point out that yes it is, but it can be used as fuel to succeed. Lots of things are fuel for success. Find what works for you and exploit it.
When you are writing a book.../Answered
How do you manage to balance what your life consists of and the stories that come so naturally? I have so many questions, but this one is definitely the most interesting one I could think of. I am trying my hand at writing, and get the same responses you bring up... "how's your little book coming along.." or my favorite, "Try doing something realistic." I believe that in order to achieve an end, you always have to find a beginning to start with. Reading was my beginning, and a plublished novel will be my end, but like you at the beginning, it's just a little disheartening without the encouragement of others, only the belittling of those who do not understand. How did you work through all the comments that belittled what you dreamed of? How did you get the encouragement you needed in order to keep going with the stories you wrote? Had that one inspiration with you not happened I don't know what us Moning fans would do! Thanks for checking out my post and I apologize if this was an already answered question! Love your books, and thanks for the inspiration you are to so many of us out here!
p.s. is there a patent on a smiley with a machalo? lol
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