Over the last year there have been more moments where I felt alone in my process and journey.
Where, other than my wife and one or two others, I didn’t feel there was the support I thought I’d get.
Those moments grew throughout the year. They led to decisions in my writing as well as in my social media activity.
As a writer working towards publishing, especially in the past year, I felt it was time to address this.
I went off of Facebook a year ago. Have taken breaks from Instagram and Twitter, as well as this blog.
I learned a lot from those breaks. One of things is, there are a core group of people who want me to succeed in writing, then there are those who don’t care.
A few years ago, this would have hurt like hell. Today, it burns a little, but that’s all. Those who don’t support my writing are not necessary for me to write. Nor are they necessary to my every day life.
It may sound like a rant, which I don’t do often, but maybe it is. I’ve reached a point as a writer where approval isn’t necessary for my mental health , that’s good right?
The last few days I’ve been writing something different and it’s been hard. It goes against a lot of who I am. It’s also a great story idea. When we, as writers and humans, reach a point where the approval of others is no longer necessary. That’s when we’ll stop caring what people think about us. It’s freeing and scary.
Today, I put some words on the page on this story. I’m not sure what I’ll do with it once it’s done, but its fun as hell.
Hope you’re having a good Tuesday. Make sure to take care of yourself today and I’ll see you on Thursday.
The past year I worked on narration and breaking up dialogue with narration.
I have an awful habit having long streams of dialogue with the occasional bit of narration thrown in.
My wife and my writing group have called me out on this.
Fixing this in the he last few short stories and the last novel I finished have been my goals.
Knowing what’s wrong with your writing. Having a support team to tell you what’s wrong is part of the journey of writing. Sometimes their words hurt. Sometimes you’ll want to scream, but almost always, what they tell you will improve your prose.
Fifteen years ago, when I wrote my first novel, I didn’t take criticism well. After time, I realized it’s meant to help me improve.
I wish I’d had a writing group when I started. I only had my wife. She was extra cautious when critiquing because at that point, I wasn’t a very nice person.
Today, I’m better than I was. I wish I’d have learned earlier that honest critiques can be brutal. Especially if you’re not ready for honesty.
Finding your way through a story is like having a big flashlight with a little beam. You’re hoping to find something, but the small beam doesn’t allow you to search a wide area. So you’re stuck searching with this big flashlight. Hoping you see what you need but know you might not.
I started work on a new project. I mentioned it last week, and it was fun, but there were times I felt the flashlight wasn’t in my hands.
It’s frustrating, and I kept thinking I should move on to another story. But I loved the fear it created in my mind as I wrote, which kept me going.
I wanted to know what happened to the characters. I worried about them. And although some writers say writing is like playing God, to me it’s more like being a harbinger of Fate.
One thing leads to another. I worry about whether the characters will live or die, but as a pantser I don’t have that control, the story does.
I’ve written all different ways, but discovery, or pantsing, works best for the way my brain works.
Not sure why it’s that way, but it is.
Anyway, I finished it yesterday. It was over 5k but needed a different pace than the 86k fantasy novel I finished in December.
Either way, I finished another story.
But I hope you’re having a good day and meeting your writing goals.
Those of us in the service industry cater to them and take care of them.
Its difficult working long hours but we do it.
Over the past week I worked crazy hours, woke up tired, but I persevered.
The only thing that fell apart was my writing. My family held it together because it was Sundance.
I’m getting my writing back on track and working on a new project, something darker. The past week was a lot of fun, I served some great actors and actresses, but I’m ready for normality. Whatever that means.
I’ve worked hard to get stories ready for publication. I still plan on publishing this year, but not sure which novel it will be.
I’ll begin the read-through this weekend of the novel I finished in December. I’m looking forward to this.
Every day is a
challenge, especially when I’m tired. Depression sneaks in when I least expect it and it tried this past week.
Today, I’m a day closer to publication and working on a story idea that came to me a while ago. Now that I’m working on it, I love it and it scares me. If I’m not scared, the reader isn’t either.
Brian B Baker, Writer 