First comes the whine: “Please let me s-e-l-l another book. I want a contract soooo bad.”
Next comes the cheese(y) grin: “Hot damn, I sold!”
Then my editor utters the word DEADLINE and reality sets in.
No summer vacation.
Thanksgiving dinner is a Lean Cuisine.
The bags under my computer-weary eyes have me looking like a Halloween ghoul.
And the whining begins all over again.
Don’t get me wrong, I love being a writer. But television, movies, picnics, fireworks and snowball fights seem all the more appealing when I’m locked away in my writing cave.
To keep from alienating everyone within earshot with my wails of p-o-o-o-o-o-r m-e-e-e-e-e, I like to whip out an index card and jot the reasons why I write.
They don’t have to be realistic:
This book is going to be so popular, A-list actors will beg to star in the movie version.
Or even nice:
I’ll show that _____ of a teacher who didn’t pick me to be a special creative writing class at my elementary school.
Or even about me:
This book is for my Dad, who went over her head to the principal and got me in that class.
They just have to be things that are important enough to send me to my computer every day.
Now it’s your turn. Don’t leave me hanging, ya’ll. What drives you to write?
5 comments:
Hi Phyllis,
Today's readers love interacting with writers. Come by Color Online. Comment a bit. And let's talk about how we can talk up more sells for you and your colleagues here.
Best,
Susan
Phyllis--
I've always wanted to be a writer, as in author, so I'm driven mostly to fulfill that dream.
The added "pressures" this choice brings are really welcome -- to the point that my Poor Little Ole Me's have become Pretty Lucky Ole Me's instead. I'll admit that I'd be lost without an editorial deadline of some sort.
Thanks for stopping by, Susan! Headed over to check out Color Online now!
Stefanie, I also tend to drift a bit without a deadline looming.
Usually it's sort of spontaneous: something works itself out in my head and I just have to write it down. Might be an idea for a book, essay or short story, or a twist in one I'm already writing; might be a memory, mine or someone else's, that I want to preserve.
I think I'm also driven by my realization (somewhere around the age of 39) that real life is never going to be a place where everything unfolds the way I want it to, where the threads all get neatly tied up, the bad guy gets his comeuppance and decency wins the day. Creating my own worlds is my way of sticking my middle finger in the face of the randomness and incoherence that's the real world.
What drives me to write?
1) The thought that I may be able to entertain people outside of my family - LOL
2) The possibility of adding to my family's income. Not by hundreds mind you, but a twenty now and again would be nice. ;)
3) The wonderful people I meet in this industry.
:)
G.
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