Day seven and I’ve become a whining diva.
Snickers Bar is on to something with their commercial that we are not ourselves when we’re hungry. And I’m definitely at that stage of my writing career that I’m feeling the hunger pains. I have a wonderful client, but sometimes funds don’t come through. Not their fault, but I have nothing else to rely upon.
Why? Because I have this dream that I can be a writer and make a living. Most days I believe in the dream and I work the strategy. I look at this time of writing and revising novels as the same time a person would commit to earning a degree or investing sweat-equity in a start-up business. These are the lean years.
If I get too hungry, I can go eat a Snickers Bar and find another client or two. Writing skills are valuable, and sometimes we need to remind each other of this. Writers don’t just write novels.
And, our novels are valuable, too. The more marketable a book, the more profitable it will be. Yet it is a fine line we walk between the desire to produce art, to communicate and the desire to earn money, to eat.
As a friend reminded me today, money can be a source of embarrassment–either because we have it, or we don’t. We should not let that stand in our way in telling our stories, honing our craft and sharing our words. We need to balance earning with output without letting ourselves get too hungry.
So what was my Snickers Bar for adjusting back to myself again? The Hub had the solution–he said I needed to get off the computer and out of the house. He was right. Since returning from my trip to Rock Creek last month, NE I’ve done nothing but pore over my research and write. I wasn’t even sure the last time I had actually put on jeans.
While it was “double day” form NaNoWriMo, I used it to improve my outlook, to pause and realize that I have choices. It may be lean times, but I am doing what I want to be doing and there’s more value in that than in the buck and a half it costs to buy a Snickers.
Diva adjustment in progress. Word count today: 0.
Thought for Day Seven:
“Every person needs to take one day away. A day in which one consciously separates the past from the future. Jobs, family, employers, and friends can exist one day without any one of us, and if our egos permit us to confess, they could exist eternally in our absence. Each person deserves a day away in which no problems are confronted, no solutions searched for. Each of us needs to withdraw from the cares which will not withdraw from us.”
~Maya Angelou, Wouldn’t Take Nothing for My Journey NowWise words from Ms. Angelou. Our cares may not withdraw from us, but we can take time to withdraw from them. With a clearer head we can return to our writing. NaNoWriMo is not an all or nothing process. It is but a tool and a part of a long journey we have committed to among many pilgrims who all have different dreams and reasons for being on the road.
Be a Diva; dive in and write when you want.
🙂
Thank you for this post. I needed it.
Okay! So now we feed our diva and write! Hang in there!
You can do it, Charli.
You are my inspiration 🙂
Let’s do it!!
Thanks for your words, Ruchira! Yes, let’s do it! 🙂
I think I’ll take your advice and take a day off tomorrow.
My break led to a break-through! Have a good day off!
How exciting. Look forward to reading about the break through.
Very hard to make a living from writing fiction:
http://emmadarwin.typepad.com/thisitchofwriting/2014/10/making-a-living-from-writing-what-works-what-doesnt.html
Whatever, I hope you eating more than Snickers bars!
I did read this post yesterday morning but didn’t have time to comment as was having MY day off with a lovely walk in the hills. From your replies to others’ comments, looks like this worked for you too
Ah, a lovely walk in the hills. It snowed in ours last night. That’s a very practical article and I appreciate it’s realistic tone. I’ve tried to stay in that grove as I’ve strategized my own plan. Lately, as in the past few weeks, I’ve read too many completely discouraging articles geared at emerging authors. They’ve felt like a kick in the pants from embittered authors who feel they aren’t making what they thought they would be. It’s a hard landscape to write against.
I hope you had a day off Charli. I have to do that and it helps tremendously. I also hope your client pays up…
Client is good at paying up it’s the banks. Client deposits from their account into mine and the banks hold the transaction. It’s unfair and unnecessary and when I’m counting on the money, it seems to take longer than normal to process! It came through today, though. Whew.
Oh I’m so glad for you Charli…whew indeed. Now we know who to blame…and surprise, surprise, it’s the bank :/
Uh-huh…no reason for them to be involved, but there they are. Interesting, one of the disagreements between the North and South was over the creation of national banks. The South was opposed. As I try to sort out Cob’s money difficulties, I wonder where he stood on the issue of banks…
Now that is a very interesting question indeed…
Hear, hear. <3
Refreshed, now! 🙂
~(*_~)~~
Good on you. <3