Comments | izhilzha: Writing: can it be both career and life purpose?

izhilzha

Writing: can it be both career and life purpose?

Sep 26, 2007 14:05

Disclaimer: this is me venting and wondering at length about my decision to live in L.A. and pursue screenwriting/TV writing, and the consequences that has for my life as a whole, and my difficulties figuring out how this should work and what I'm willing to give up for it (and not).

( Cut to spare those of you who really aren't all that interested )

lj, real life, fan fiction, supernatural, my fics, spec, csi, writing, contemplative

Comments 40

persephone_kore September 26 2007, 23:53:29 UTC

And then I question even that: am I sabotaging myself by not being strong enough to focus exclusively on working in television?

I think you'd be sabotaging yourself if you never took a break to refresh yourself. But that might just be me.

rj_anderson September 27 2007, 03:48:56 UTC

Hear the lady! She is wise.

izhilzha September 27 2007, 18:11:02 UTC

I hear and obey. ;-)

izhilzha September 27 2007, 18:10:02 UTC

No, I'm sure you're right. :-) It's just nice to hear it from someone outside my own head; makes it easier to believe I'm not making excuses, you know?

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ladybrick September 26 2007, 23:55:09 UTC

You also have to keep in mind that you can't spend all your time only writing stuff that would be considered "practical" You'll burn yourself out. Fanfic (and blogging) is a hobby. It's a hobby that can help you improve with what you want to do with your life, true, but it is still a hobby. You shouldn't feel guilty about it, but you may want to work out a schedule that says how much time you're going to devote to hobby-related activities as compared to "work"

On another note, can I bug you about feedback on something? ;P

izhilzha September 27 2007, 06:39:56 UTC

:-) Thank you for the advice; scheduling kills me, because life never works out according to said schedule, and then I feel bad about not meeting it. Heh.

And yes, you can bug me about feedback on something. Want to take that request to email? *waits*

brianrubin September 26 2007, 23:58:02 UTC

My question for you is...why focus exclusively on television? If you want to do television, maybe you need to keep working on strengthening yourself so you will be strong enough for television, but I dunno, why limit one's focus? Writing can do so much in so many ways besides scripts and fan-fic.

I dunno, don't feel guilty or anything. Writing takes on a lot of different forms, and it's all exercising the muscles as it were. Hell, writing this blog entry was exercise. I say keep it up in whichever form makes you happy, not for reward or anything, but for yourself.

Good luck!

izhilzha September 27 2007, 18:14:28 UTC

Your advice and good wishes are much appreciated. As to why I feel like maybe I should narrow my focus--well, I have a tendency to feel like time is slipping away from me, and to feel that I need to figure out how best to spend it. Which may not be the best way to solve the puzzle of what I should be writing (too emotional and not rational enough).

brianrubin September 27 2007, 18:32:20 UTC

Well, the one thing we're ALWAYS losing is time, but we can't be so efficient as to always use it to the best of our ability, since we neither have the energy or mental capacity...well, I don't anyway.

It's all about balance, my friend. You should do enough writing as you need to feel satisfy your self-requirements and balance it our with hobbies like fanfic and stuff.

Do you plan out your writing time? Or have a to-do list or anything? I find things are more easily managed when they're on paper somewhere in front of me.

Whatever course of action you take, I wish you the best of luck.

izhilzha September 27 2007, 20:25:01 UTC

Balance, yeah, everything's about balance....

I don't usually plan out my writing time in terms of "I shall do this for an hour, and then this, and this," because nothing ever takes less time than I initially give it, and usually more. I do plan it out in terms of saying, "I need to finish this scene, and write this other one, and if I still have time in the evening, I can go and re-outline the next movement of the plot."

So yeah, lists are good, but they don't always help out that much. Depends on the day.

scorptilicus September 27 2007, 00:01:56 UTC

My knee jerk to that question is yes. That's what career writers do, am I right?

Fan fiction and your blog a waste of time? I would say no way. For one thing, they keep your skills up. Like any other skill, the only way you stay good at it is if you keep doing it. And fan fiction and the blog do that for you. I would think, anyway.

izhilzha September 27 2007, 18:15:52 UTC

My knee jerk to that question is yes. That's what career writers do, am I right?

And what I hope to do, yes indeed. :-)

I do tend to consider my blog and other prose writing as keeping up my skills, but it's nice to get confirmation of that--it's too easy to assume that something fun is maybe something that is a waste of my time. So not true.

But no! kalquessa September 27 2007, 00:02:19 UTC

Is this a waste of my precious time?

No writing is wasted. This I believe without reservation. And not just because I have a gigantic teenage Tolkien rip-off festering somewhere on my hard drive. If you're writing, even in your journal, you're working muscles. Running in circles is only a waste of time if you have somewhere to be right this minute. If you have patience, the running in circles will pay off because when you do have somewhere to be, you will get there faster than you would have without the exercise.

Also: aside from the practice and exercise, the feedback and applause that you get from fanfic are very useful things. The feedback tells you how to be better. The applause lets you know that you've already come a long way and helps bolster motivation. If you're making words, you're doin' good.

And now I will stop kibitzing and send you internet hugs. I love you and your words.

Re: But no! izhilzha September 27 2007, 18:18:29 UTC

No writing is wasted. This I believe without reservation.... If you're making words, you're doin' good.

*internalizes that wise thought*

It's the bit about having patience that kills me; I really am a terribly impatient sort of person when it comes to writing. I want to be DOING IT RIGHT NOW. I want to be at the place where I can make the cool stories my own self.

Yay for motivating feedback! That's a good reason to keep writing fan fic, yes it is.

*returns internet hugs with interest*

Re: But no! kalquessa September 27 2007, 21:20:35 UTC

I want to be DOING IT RIGHT NOW.

Oh, believe me, I know, I know. Right there with you. But I've finally (at age...how old am I now...25? Yeah, that sounds right...) had the value of practice and repetition and just good old hard work hammered into me, and...it really does work wonders. This should not be amazing, but it kind of is.

Come visit me and ma peeps so I can give you hugs in person!

Re: But no! izhilzha September 28 2007, 16:27:49 UTC

It's not that I object to hard work, it just seems like all 27 years of my life have been "in training," and I've done nothing or very little outside of that, nothing that wasn't "school," so to speak. I'm not even married, I don't have kids, blah, blah, blah.

(Also, seriously, I'm 2 years older than you. It's very sad that I'm such an impatient person still. *g*)

Come visit me and ma peeps so I can give you hugs in person!

What are you doing Oct. 6? Saturdays are good, right? I can drive down and visit you and we can watch TV and have squee and I can meet your family!

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