Yesterday I was being a whiner. I admit it fully. When writing time came, all I wanted to do was sit on the couch and watch TV. (Damn USA network for running a three hour marathon of NCIS every night starting at 6:00 my time.)
When I mentioned... okay whined... to my husband that I had writing to do, he gave me the ol' 'Why?' look. I mean, I don't have a contract and no one is standing behind me tapping their foot as they wait for the words to come out. I don't have to write 50K words this month. I don't have even have to do 50K this year. If I don't write another word in 2008, no one is going to die.
Still...
As I told my better half, I'm doing this because it's good practice for the day when I do have a contract and I am under a deadline. It'll happen someday and I'd better be ready for it when it does. A contract is a commitment and if I sign something that says I'll have a book to them by x-date, then by god, I'll honor my commitment. (Barring flood, famine, disaster or grievous bodily injury, of course.)
When I first started writing, I was absolutely sure I wouldn't be able to write to deadlines. I had a meandering way of writing. I waited for inspiration to strike me, and then I'd sit down to let the words pour out of my fingers. It made writing really easy, but it was so unrealistic I could go back in time and pat my former self on the head like I was a misguided child. (Which I was.) If I was never planning on being published, writing when the muse was ready would be fine. Except I plan on being published, and I want to be able to meet the expectations of my publishers.
So here I am. I'm still straining against the convention of sitting my butt down and typing every night, but I'm also kicking myself when I don't. I know I have work to do, and I will do it. By the end of today, I need to have about 3000 words done to be on track for my goal. I know I can do it. I have the next three scenes already plotted out, waiting to be written. (I should've written at least one of them last night.)
I know I can do this. Now I just have to prove it to myself. And when my contract finally comes, I'll be ahead of the game.
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3 comments:
I struggle to write every day, but that doesn't mean I'm any less of a writer. When I have a deadline, it will be different because then it will be a job. A paying job. Right now it's a non-paying dream.
If you have the talent to write then WRITE! Throw the TV out the window and write. I have confidence that you can succeed.
Keep telling yourself that there is no story on the TV that is as good as the one you are going to write.
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