Obsessive Vocation
I think about writing all the time. My life revolves around writing – meal planning, time management, purchasing. Not to mention studying technique, trying to do better, or the very act – writing.
Or thinking about writing, lying on the bed and staring at the ceiling. Or dreaming and wondering what that’s telling me about writing or how I could incorporate it.
I’m not sure this is healthy, but it’s the way I am. I’m a Scorpio, so I think that’s part of it. I worked hard for a long time before I sold, that’s part of it, too, and I wonder if the obsession will ease when I become a full time writer.
I need a life.
I anticipate the day when I am a successful, full-time writer. I think THEN I will get a life, but secretly believe that I’ll just get worse...
May your writing balance with the rest of your life today!
Love to all,
Robin
Or thinking about writing, lying on the bed and staring at the ceiling. Or dreaming and wondering what that’s telling me about writing or how I could incorporate it.
I’m not sure this is healthy, but it’s the way I am. I’m a Scorpio, so I think that’s part of it. I worked hard for a long time before I sold, that’s part of it, too, and I wonder if the obsession will ease when I become a full time writer.
I need a life.
I anticipate the day when I am a successful, full-time writer. I think THEN I will get a life, but secretly believe that I’ll just get worse...
May your writing balance with the rest of your life today!
Love to all,
Robin
posted by FantasyAuthor RobinDOwens | 7:34 AM
4 Comments:
It can get worse if you let it. I have a minimal-hour part-time job that doesn't occupy my thoughts when I'm not there, so I more or less write full-time. It's important to find a vocation (or avocation) outside of writing, whether it be volunteer work or a passionate hobby, because writing and its related work (promotion, research, blogging, etc.) can easily overwhelm every moment. Oh, and don't forget family and non-writer friends.
My ultimate goal is to be able to afford to write only one book a year so that I can have a life again. (Er, first I have to get contracted for more than one book a year. But hey, part of long-term planning is getting ahead of oneself. :-) Just like any career, lots of grueling hours have to be put in during the "early years," so that we can be nicer to ourselves when we get older. Sometimes balance comes only over the long run.
Your dedication is really commendable, Robin, and is bound to bring you great success. You push yourself to do the absolute best you can, and it really shows in your work.
That being said, however, art is no substitute for life. There's a wonderful essay by Yann Martel about that. I'll see if I can track it down online.
Hmm, it's not online anymore, but I'll quote the end of it. He talks about "becoming successful at the worst kind of failure: the unliving of life."
>>Seeking happiness in your Good Art will lead you nowhere. There is no link between the Good Life and Good Art. Work on being a good person as you work on being a good writer, keeping them separate, and--likely as not--you will become better at both.<<
I'm glad I'm not the only one! I have one obsessive/compulsive object and that is writing.
Fortunately I also have demanding children and dog and husband. Keeps me balanced, even when I don't want to be, which is most of the time.
Good writing is dependant upon good living, like we must read good books in order to become better writers.
Well I do have the day job for now. My writing friends -- critique group who have lives of their own. My family who force me to go (sometimes whining all the way) to things like Carmen last night...and yeah, I'll still whine because my mother gave me no choice and it was supposed to be a birthday present. So I saw people. I'd seen the opera before, but not live. The music was fabulous, the singers pretty damn good, the characters and plot sucked large. There was one incredible crowd scene where the director had everyone mime/pace in slow mo that was incredibly surreal. I was impressed.
And of course the music was fabulous...still and all, I'd have rather stayed home...except a work friend also made me dinner, and that was wonderful, too.
Oh, and the music was fabulous, though my ears rang for a while after I got home and tried to get to sleep.
Love to all,
Robin
Robin
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