Love of Writing
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The Tweets
“I love learning and I love writing. Today, I am learning about writing. I feel like cracking open some champagne ,” I tweeted.
“I have never been able to wrap my mind around people who love writing,” replied @TemerityJane.
Several aborted attempts to reply within 140 characters later, I decided to write a blog post about it instead.
Writing Is Hard
It is.
Writing is WORK. It takes effort and practice to write something devoid of spellos and typos in language that adequately conveys your meaning and intent so that people reading it understand what you’re trying to say.
This is true of all writing, be it essays, blogs, articles, short stories, novels, instruction manuals, or ad copy.
You Can’t Win At Writing
There is no stopping point where you can look back and say, “Yup! I win at writing!”
It’s like winning at yelling.
You can get BETTER at it, but there’s no hard and fast goal to strive for, which can make writing feel like swimming against a current when you’re not entirely certain there’s a shore on the other side.
Writing Is a Job
For a lot of people, yup, writing is a job. Just like there’s no crying in baseball, there’s no “I didn’t feel like it” in writing. If you’re under contract to produce content, you have to write SOMETHING, even if your heart’s not really in it.
This is also known as “Your muse does not love you, and is secretly trying to drive you insane.”
There are No Guarantees
Just because you try really hard or write really well, there’s absolutely no guarantee that anyone will like or care about what you’ve written.
Suck.
Depressing, eh? So how could anyone LOVE to write? Looking at it objectively, it’s insanity.
I Love Writing.
I love sitting down and spending time with my characters. I love trying to craft an enjoyable story. I love finding just the right phrasing. I love making someone laugh. I love the thought that I might create a world and characters so vivid that readers think about it long after they’ve finished reading my words.
I also love typing. I realize that’s a little bizarre, but it’s true. In stores that sell keyboards, I walk down the aisle and sample the clickety-clack of the keys, unique to each keyboard. I love sitting down to my keyboard and feeling the words flow so easily from my head to my fingers.
I love writing the way dog owners love their dogs. I understand why those who don’t love dogs curl their lip when they note the drool, the offal, the feeding, the vet bills, the behavior training, the odors, and the hair.
I see all the negatives, and still I love it. Insane? A little, maybe. Happy, though. Unquestionably joyful, and worth every negative.
And because you love writing, and are so passionate about it, and word so very hard at it, we are enriched. :)
.-= Steve Hall´s last blog ..Passive and Possessive—Pronouns for Pros =-.
@Steve
=]
And inspired, one hopes, to write yourselves!
In an odd twist, I have never felt like I loved writing.
…rather, it’s something I have to do. (Not because anyone is forcing me to do so, but because… I have to get the stories out.)
As such, it feels good, in that way. Like eating. You gotta eat, and in that sense, eating is rewarding. Some foods even taste better than others! Same goes for writing with me.
I used to tell people that I didn’t like writing. I think I’ve moved on to accepting that I do like it in an “I have to do this” sort of way.
None of that makes sense I’m sure…
.-= Pike´s last blog ..With Apologies to Weezer (Warning: Image Heavy Post) =-.
For me, it’s not just the writing itself, but also the feeling of punching those keys that makes everything all worth it.
.-= krizzlybear´s last blog ..Learning From the Pros =-.
@Pike and krizzlybear
I love that all writers have their own motivation and reasons for writing. =]
Also, awesome video clip, Krizzly!
I “get” that people love writing in the same way I “get” that some insane people like sausage. It seems completely impossible, but it is so.
What really boggles me is when people say that their dream is to be a writer, for a living.
Really?
I don’t think people mean exactly what they’re saying when they say that, not all of them, anyway. Maybe someone has written a book in their spare time and enjoyed writing it as a hobby and would like to see it end up published and make some money from it and get some fame and fans. That, I can totally understand.
But to have writing be your job, I think way fewer people would enjoy that than seem to desperately want it. It IS my job. I get to write boring stuff, I get to write creative stuff, I get to get paid to just be me, in text form. I write all day long. Sometimes I choose the topics, sometimes I don’t. There’s a good mix of crap and creativity. And I get paid to do it. I realize that I currently HAVE the dream job of many people.
But it’s WORK. Not like you said “writing is work, writing is hard.” I mean, it is work. It’s my work, my job. I have to get out of bed every morning on days I don’t feel like going to the office and write stuff. I have mean, clueless bosses and editors. I have deadlines and rewrites and opinions and needs that aren’t my own to fulfill.
It’s a job, just like any other one. I know a lot of people will say “I understand that and I’d be totally happy doing it day in and day out forever and ever!”
Baloney. Once something is a job, it’s not the same anymore. Even if you enjoy it most days, it’s still a slog on others. Once your dream job or beloved hobby is associated with being such a miserable chore on the day you have cramps and a stuffed nose and just don’t want to work, it’s hard to really feel the same adoration for it that you did before. I assume. Because I have never, ever enjoyed writing. Without getting all puffed up an egotistical, whenever I have said, “I don’t enjoy writing and never had,” I almost always get a response along the lines of “But you’re good at it!”
The two really, really have nothing to do with each other. I’m pretty good at laundry, too, y’know?
@TJ
I totally understand where you’re coming from. I see it a lot in artists on DeviantArt. Upload after upload of fun, whimsical stuff they love. Then, they start to get good. REALLY good. Their style develops and their mistakes disappear and they think, “Hey, I love drawing, and I’m finally good enough to charge money for it!”
So they do. They offer commissions. The MOMENT art shifts from “fun” to “work”, 90% of them stop drawing.
They don’t just stop offering commissions, it’s like they crossed a bridge and can’t get back to the part where drawing is fun again. The drudgery of doing something they used to love for someone else, who may request multiple changes to something they think is done combined with the sure knowledge they COULD make money just seems to destroy their love of it.
I agree – a nonzero number of the folks who wish they wrote for a living would actually hate the reality of it intensely.
I love reading about those authors who DO write for a living and DO love it, drudgery and all.
http://www.deadlinedames.com/?p=2510 < Rachel Vincent, for example.
You’re absolutely right. Whether or not you’re good at something doesn’t mean you love it, and writing-as-a-career isn’t unicorns and raindrops on kitten whiskers.
I continue to slander your name and your ambitions. You have become somewhat of a cult hero in my home which has this effect on me.
“Really? I make you a delicious breakfast every morning and iron your clothes, and TamiJean is the person you admire and respect??”"
I was greeted this morning with, “Bet you didn’t know that TamiJean has her own website?” It was said with great enthusiam and admiration!!
I have another story to share on ridiculous comments in my home that concern you, but I have no time to share it now.
I STILL have not found the time to read your work, although I have read some snippets. I fear that it will only increase my frustration with you, which is pretty elevated since I now have to actually blog on YOUR website. Especially since I have enjoyed what I have read. CURSE YOU!!!
@Anne
I can’t decide whether I should apologize, bow, or blush!!
*winks*
If it helps, YOU have become a cult hero in MY home. The hubby keeps asking, “What did Anne, Mother of Three answer today’s QotD with? Did she mention Bunnies or the Boosh?”
And yes, we refer to you with your full title in everyday speaking. I fear this will be an embarrassing habit when I actually get to meet you, but I feel certain you shall bear it well and respond with grace and equanimity. Or maybe you’ll just hit me with a cello, it’s hard to tell.
<3<3
@TJ
You have hit the nail on the head as to my chosen profession. I chose what I was good at, but not the thing that I love to do. Because I don’t want what I love to do to become the thing I don’t want to do. I would, in fact, say that I’m a better artist than I am a programmer. And yet I program for a living.
@Tami
Totally understand about the keyboard. It’s also why I don’t like most laptops. Keyboard doesn’t click with me, ya know (ba-dum).
@Gauntlet
Ooh, do you have a site for your artwork?
I still kinda like the keyboard on the laptop. It’s not quite as nice as a regular one, but I like the tackety-tack-tack as much as the clickety-click-click.
.-= Tami´s last blog ..New Flash Fiction Up =-.