CYD 2012 : Author Advice with Beth Fantaskey : This Is Supposed To Be Fun, Right?
We continue with the fourth day of our Author Advice series with a few words of wisdom from Beth Fantaskey, author of JESSICA'S GUIDE TO DATING ON THE DARK SIDE.
When I was brainstorming ideas for this guest post on some aspect of writing, I asked myself, “What’s the best advice anybody ever gave me, as a writer?” And I realized that the best suggestion I ever received actually came about 20 years into my career as a professional writer and two years after I was a published novelist.
Kind of late, right?
And moreover, the advice was offered in the form of a question, posed by my (always wise) husband, who one day looked at his stressed-out wife sitting at the computer and asked semi-rhetorically, “This is supposed to be fun, right?”
I took a minute to let that sink in and realized that somewhere along the way, in the quest to support a family and meet others’ expectations, writing had stopped being fun. More troubling, I had made it un-fun, myself.
At the time, I was working on the sequel to Jessica’s Guide to Dating on the Dark Side and had a deadline to meet, combined with the pressure of the first book being fairly successful, and I felt tense all the time. The manuscript that I was creating reflected that, and I wasn’t happy with it.
But after my husband asked that question, I went to the gym and got on the treadmill and started rethinking a lot of stuff. By the time I hopped off two miles later, I had decided to just sit down every day and have fun with the characters I’d created in the first book, just like I’d had a great time the first time around. The only way I would fail was if I didn’t laugh, or cry in a good way, or otherwise just enjoy myself on any given writing day - the same way I wanted readers to enjoy the next part of Jess and Lucius’s story.
The whole tone of my work - and to some degree my life - changed. I recaptured the spirit of the original novel and wrote a sequel that I absolutely love. More importantly, I loved writing it. It makes me smile just thinking about the process and the product. I can’t wait to share it with readers.
I don’t think you have to be working under contract to feel pressure as a writer. (What is more intense than trying to complete your first manuscript, wondering if anyone will buy it? What can suck the joy out of writing more than that?) And so I think the question my husband asked is a good one for any writer to consider.
Heck, it’s probably a good question to ask about life in general, now and then.
This is supposed to be fun, right?
Yeah... Yeah, I think it is.
So have a blast writing, everybody. I wish you all tons of success, not just in terms of words committed to paper or book sales, even, but as measured by the day-to-day joy you get from spending time in the worlds you create.
Beth Fantaskey is the author of JESSICA'S GUIDE TO DATING ON THE DARK SIDE, JEKEL LOVES HYDE and the upcoming JESSICA RULES THE DARK SIDE. She likes to have fun with her husband and two kids in the little town of Lewisburg, Pa. You can read up more about her at her website.
Remember to hop over to annemariewrites on Monday for another inspirational post then join me back here on Tuesday to welcome Kate Messner author of THE BRILLIANT FALL OF GIANNA Z and SUGAR AND ICE as she talks about time management.