"Can you remove your heart and passion (okay, that's a stupid question? but...) for a moment and think of this very clinically --where will you really excel? Where will your journey lead you--a commenter above mentioned your blog posts/writing -could that led you somewhere you didn't expect... are you writing from your truths or what you think you should write or been told to write - is something else hiding inside you wanting to come out? Wanting to be explored?
Take some time to step back and away and see what kinds of thoughts and ideas arrive.
But, also, imagine yourself never ever writing what you love again -can you live with that? No matter if you are published or not? Can you never write again?
What makes you feel the happiest or the most peaceful or satisfied?"These are some great questions. If you find yourself at a dead end, at a loss or just without direction I recommend that you take some time and answer them for yourself. You never know where you might go or what you may discover. That is the key isn't it; to discover something. This is why we write or express ourselves in creative ways - to discover something otherwise missed.
How did I answer these questions? Well, let's start with the easiest one first. Can I never write again? Absolutely not! This article is proof of that. I can't think of a world where I am not writing something. My hopes of being published in some capacity may have taken a serious hit but in all honesty that will not stop me from writing.
What makes you feel the happiest or the most peaceful or satisfied? Now we are getting into the thick of things. This one took me a little longer to figure out - but I did figure it out. The answer to this is a multiple one. Helping others makes me happy. I truly enjoy hearing about the success of everyone here and through e-mails. The results of my promotional company and helping others get noticed has really been a joy for me. This blog is by far and away been a source of joy and happiness for me for many reasons. With that said; however, I do have a different answer for what makes me peaceful or satisfied. That would be writing. No, not writing novels; although I do enjoy writing novels I find that writing short stories and poetry (believe it or not) delivers more peace and satisfaction.
Unfortunately I fell into the trap, while writing my novel, of focusing mainly on getting it finished and finding a publisher. I robbed myself of the pure simple joy of just writing. I saw that as I read some of the earlier articles I posted here on The New Author. It is time to get back to the joy of things and let everything else fall as they may.
Are you writing from your truths or what you think you should write or been told to write - is something else hiding inside you wanting to come out? Wanting to be explored? This is a downright hard question to answer. To be honest my first novel was written because so many people told me the story and situation would make for a great read. The second was based on a favorite topic of mine and the desire to do something new with it and put some teeth back into it. I have so many ideas and notes for novels that it would make a person’s head spin. I will share something else with you - I received feedback from everyone I asked, which I am grateful, and the results were very interesting. The feedback was evenly split between the males and females. The males pretty much hated it and could not connect with it while the females loved it and could identify their favorite and least favorite character. This seems strange to me but there it is. What can I take from that feedback? I'm not sure because it is so polarized.
It is always a good idea to have other options to explore. You only hinder yourself if you get pigeonholed. I plan to look at magazines again and possibly some anthologies for short stories but for the moment I just plan to write for me. I may post some of it here for all of you so I can get some thoughts and opinions on it.
Where will your journey led you? I don't have an answer for this one yet because I'm still on the journey. Once I have it figured out I will let you know but until then I plan on enjoying this journey for what it is.
How would you answer these questions?
4 comments:
Good for you, Brian.
All you can do is follow your heart and write what you want - and because you want to. We've all been there, I certainly have. I doubt what I am doing about once a week. Of course I would like to have success as a writer but I understand that success for me is just a measure of the journey.
Short stories are great, along with poetry. And many wonderful ideas can be found in a short story. I recently had a story I had all but given up on. I wanted it to be a great science/speculative fiction novel. But then I was prompted by someone to enter some work into a flash fiction literary journal so I decided to try and pare the beast down. I ended up with something completely different then what I had started with but it was under 750 words - and it got published.
So keep writing whenever you can or want, and write for yourself. That's all you can do.
I'm glad my comments helped in some way Brian -- I believe in you!
Brian, I believe in you too.
I just popped across here as I haven't heard from you in a while. I've been in a whirl of drama due to my father's operations, so I lost track of things. I was shocked to read these posts.
You are a valuable writer, with a capacity to connect with readers (which you demonstrate so well here) and a level of empathy that is rare to find. I think this is where your path may lie. I have a couple of ideas - I'll send you a DM - but I'll leave this comment with a bit of advice I've found useful...
Write the story only you can write.
J.L. - Man, that is great that your story was published. That is something to feel good about and build on. I agree with you - success is a measure of the journey, not the destination.
Kathryn - Thank you for your thoughts and support.
Rebecca - Your ideas are intriguing and I will DM you about them a little later.
I apologize to all of you for my late response but work, at the moment, has me under the gun.
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