jennifer_brozek (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
jennifer_brozek) wrote2011-11-28 03:37 pm
jennifer_brozek) wrote2011-11-28 03:37 pm
Entry tags:
It's not easy but it is worth it
In a serendipitous moment, Seanan wrote about something I've been thinking a lot about lately: the concept that "Easy is for Other People" in regards to writing. The essay is worth the read. The tl;dr version can be summed up as: Having a story idea is easy. Everything else is hard.
Writing is not easy for me. It never has been. But I love it all the same. If a story comes too easy, I look at it with a suspicious eye and wonder what I've missed. I know there are logical plot holes and dangling threads that must be fixed. Not to mention dropped words, mucked up grammar, and spelling errors.
I did not want to be writer growing up. I wanted to be an astronaut, a singer, a musician and a firefighter—that I can remember. Writing wasn't that important. Reading was. But I do have a talent for writing. I know that. Like all talents, it needs to be honed and that takes work. Writing is the one thing in my life that I have scraped and scrimped and beaten my head against a wall for. It rejects me time and again and I keep coming back for more.
Writing is not easy but it is who I am. It is the one thing I have wanted enough in my life to do the work that the talent requires.
I've been thinking a lot about this lately because the editor on the Battletech web series has requested some specific world changes that will require serious rewrites. These are not outlandish edit requests and are perfectly doable… but they are not easy. However, the whole time I'm quietly whining to myself about it, another part of my brain is already cataloging where all the rewrites need to be done to make the background change seamless throughout the story.
There are days when I want to give up the whole mess for a lark. Go back to playing my games and skip the writing altogether. Because writing is hard. But I know I would not be happy. I would never be happy without my writing. Looking back, all of my hobbies have included writing whether or not they needed it.
I needed it.
It's why I keep accepting the freelance offers as they come by and stack my schedule with my own writing. The only thing that really changes is the type of writing I do. Sometimes short form. Sometimes long form. Right now, I'm shifting back into long form writing because I want to see where it will take me. Last I time I did this was 2006… and my long form writing gave me a career as a freelance author. Who knows where it will take me this time?
It may not be easy, but it is worth it.
Writing is not easy for me. It never has been. But I love it all the same. If a story comes too easy, I look at it with a suspicious eye and wonder what I've missed. I know there are logical plot holes and dangling threads that must be fixed. Not to mention dropped words, mucked up grammar, and spelling errors.
I did not want to be writer growing up. I wanted to be an astronaut, a singer, a musician and a firefighter—that I can remember. Writing wasn't that important. Reading was. But I do have a talent for writing. I know that. Like all talents, it needs to be honed and that takes work. Writing is the one thing in my life that I have scraped and scrimped and beaten my head against a wall for. It rejects me time and again and I keep coming back for more.
Writing is not easy but it is who I am. It is the one thing I have wanted enough in my life to do the work that the talent requires.
I've been thinking a lot about this lately because the editor on the Battletech web series has requested some specific world changes that will require serious rewrites. These are not outlandish edit requests and are perfectly doable… but they are not easy. However, the whole time I'm quietly whining to myself about it, another part of my brain is already cataloging where all the rewrites need to be done to make the background change seamless throughout the story.
There are days when I want to give up the whole mess for a lark. Go back to playing my games and skip the writing altogether. Because writing is hard. But I know I would not be happy. I would never be happy without my writing. Looking back, all of my hobbies have included writing whether or not they needed it.
I needed it.
It's why I keep accepting the freelance offers as they come by and stack my schedule with my own writing. The only thing that really changes is the type of writing I do. Sometimes short form. Sometimes long form. Right now, I'm shifting back into long form writing because I want to see where it will take me. Last I time I did this was 2006… and my long form writing gave me a career as a freelance author. Who knows where it will take me this time?
It may not be easy, but it is worth it.