How do I do that same thing in my life? So far I have not
found a how. I think about writing, I think about what stories I want to get
done but I have done nothing towards getting them written, editing, or anything
towards being published. I am beginning to think that I like the dream of being
a writer but for some reason I am not willing to anything to making less than a
dream and more of a goal. The difference between a dream and a goal is a plan
and I have no plan for becoming a published author. Especially sense I want to
be a ‘mainstream’ author. I have problems with that word because I am a Science
Fiction and Fantasy dreamer and ‘mainstream’ look down on us dreamers. I
written about how Science Fiction and mainstream interact but in one of my grad
school classes I wrote about Science Fiction and Society. The word ‘mainstream’
is not even in the language until 1964, by in the language I mean it was not in
the Oxford English Dictionary until then. Science Fiction as a literary concept
is over 100 years old. I have the position that Science Fiction has an
important role in and for society.
But that is not what this post is about. This post is about
how I have no real drive to make my dreams into reality. I do not know if I am
just scared because to have dream be real mean that they change. Reality is
never like a dream, reality is hard and scary, and things do not always work
out; either for the best or for you. In the past year I have done a lot of
research about publishing, publishers, copyright laws, author’s rights, and
just getting published. I know that it is hard, I know that there are so many
very talented people all trying for the same thing and maybe that is just it.
Growing up I was told that no matter how good at something I was there will always
be someone who is better at it. Maybe I just have not worked that out. The
reason I think that is my problem is that I have a lot of self-discipline in so
many other areas of life. I am in graduate school, I take care of myself( and I
have Lupus and fibromyalgia so that is not easy at times), I am married and
have been with the same guy for ten years now, and I have two blogs that I post
for on a weekly basis. I have self-discipline or I would not have all the
really good things in my life. I think that I am just afraid. Now I just do not
know what to do with it. I know that this post has to resolution but it is
honest. Thanks for reading always and see you next week.
I know I have that problem too. You and I must have been separated at birth LOL. It think it takes an accountability partner. Do you want to be mine? :)
ReplyDeleteSure I'm willing to try anything at this point.
DeleteDon't give up, Lynn. I think you and Clay are talented and I'd hate to see you guys waste it. I think you'd be a great author. Sure, Stephen King and Kevin J. Anderson can write thousands of words a day, but we need to start small. Write every day. When I turned Adventure Hunters from a screenplay into a novel, I was writing whenever I could between classes at work. After a while, I found I hit my groove from 9am to 12. But it took me a few weeks to find that out, I just had to write every day. Try this: don't set a word goal, set a time goal. Pick a length of time you know you can afford. Ten, fifteen thirty minutes, what have you. Just pick those minutes to focus on writing. You don't even need to write paragraphs, in my opinion. Free write character notes, bits of dialogue. anything that gets you writing. Get a timer or something, set it and don't stop until it rings. You and Clay are both writers, this could be something you do together. As for the fear, every writer starts at the exact same place with every book: a blank page. Use your ten minutes a day to fill it up. Eventually you'll hit the end. The fear is nothing compared to the reward of knowing you have actually finished a book. It's awesome. Fear leads to anger, angry leads to hate, hate leads to suffering. So says the green jumping jelly bean Yoda. Your work will suffer if you are afraid to start. We have nothing to fear except fear itself. And sharks. (Sorry, I just really wanted to use that line!) The point is, I think you're talented. As you pointed out in your post, SF has been around longer than "mainstream." Be whatever writer you want to be.
ReplyDelete