HANDYMAN'S HELPER: L. Jagi Lamplighter
The Agony and the Ecstasy
by L. Jagi Lamplighter
(c) 2009
(Originally posted on the Sidhe Na Daire blog)
Okay, maybe that’s a bit of an exaggeration. What I really meant to say was: the drudgery and the fun parts.
Someone once said that a writer is someone who shows bravery in the face of a blank paper. There is great truth in this. Getting started is truly part of the drudgery of writing. I don’t just mean starting your work, finding a first line, that kind of thing, I mean getting started each and every time you sit down to write.
Occasionally, one is psyched to begin, and the words flow. More often, no matter how eager one is, how much one chomps at the bit while trudging through the daily chores, when one actually sits down to do write…there is the blank page.
This is particularly frustrating when one also has trouble stopping writing. The kids are starving, the cats are meowing over empty bowls, the dishes are spilling out of the sink onto the floor, and the laundry has become the home of several small rodents, but the lure of writing that next line is too hard to resist. Surely, they can all wait another minute…er, hour…er day, right?
So, if it was so hard to stop last time, because there was so much to say, why is it so hard to get started again the next time?
So those are two of the dreary parts: starting and stopping. Other difficult parts, for me, include getting the first draft on paper and the waiting. By waiting, I mean the time between when the work is finished and when it finally sees print. (This period routinely lasts as long as one of those periods after which dinosaur eras are named. Whole races of reptilian relatives have been known to evolve, flourish, and go extinct in the time that the average writer has to wait to see their work in print.)
Other writers probably have other dreary parts as well. No two of us are the same. But the dreary parts take a lot out of you. They are enervating, draining life and energy like white, rectangular vampires. And sometimes, they really, really suck.
So…if it is so dreary, why do we do it?
The answer, of course, is: because of the fun parts.
What are the fun parts, you ask? Again, they are different for each of us. For me, the first fun part is editing. I hate getting the ideas out on paper. I love moving them around, polishing them, making them shine.
(This is convenient because currently I am completing the edits my editor sent for my second novel.* Because I like the editing party, I find this otherwise rather dreary task-making lots of little changes for clarity, etc.-fun and intriguing. This makes the necessary task a great deal easier!)
Doing research can be fun, too…especially when it’s a subject of interest. Facts that would otherwise seem dry as old dirt suddenly come alive and leap into one’s brain, waiting for their chance to reappear as some interesting observation. Of course, research can be dreary, if one is not interested in it. But usually it’s fun. (Probably, because I am a fantasy writer, so I seldom have to remember facts. I just have to borrow a mood.)
Other fun parts include seeing the finished product (especially seeing it for sale), going to conventions-I love that part-talking with other writers. And all sorts of little perks, things as simple as impressing the barista at B&N. (Very many people are impressed by discovering that someone is a writer they have never heard of, but the occasional ooh and aah of delight from those few who are impressed is just so much fun.)
Probably the part that is the most fun of all is having someone read the finished work. I mean, that’s why we really write it, isn’t it? While occasionally, there is a person who writes just to write, most of us want to tell a story and to share that story with someone.
Until recently, the someone who read my work was always a friend, usually a friend I hunted down, strapped to an easy chair, and begged to look my stuff over so as to give me advice. Since August, however, when my first book finally saw the fluorescent lights of bookstores, that someone has included strangers.
Most of these strangers I will never meet. But occasionally, I hear from an acquaintance or come upon a review where someone enjoyed the book. Then, I can’t help smiling and thinking, hey look, that drudgery was worth it all along!
*At the time of this second posting of this article, Ms. Lamplighter's third novel, Prospero Regained, is actually scheduled to release September 13, 2011.
__________________________________
Okay, folks...here is where you get to share your agony and ecstasy as a writer. Tell us what your drudgery and joy are. Who knows, we might be able to give you some advice on how to dodge the less enjoyable parts...or minimize them, anyway ;)
by L. Jagi Lamplighter
(c) 2009
(Originally posted on the Sidhe Na Daire blog)
Okay, maybe that’s a bit of an exaggeration. What I really meant to say was: the drudgery and the fun parts.
Someone once said that a writer is someone who shows bravery in the face of a blank paper. There is great truth in this. Getting started is truly part of the drudgery of writing. I don’t just mean starting your work, finding a first line, that kind of thing, I mean getting started each and every time you sit down to write.
Occasionally, one is psyched to begin, and the words flow. More often, no matter how eager one is, how much one chomps at the bit while trudging through the daily chores, when one actually sits down to do write…there is the blank page.
This is particularly frustrating when one also has trouble stopping writing. The kids are starving, the cats are meowing over empty bowls, the dishes are spilling out of the sink onto the floor, and the laundry has become the home of several small rodents, but the lure of writing that next line is too hard to resist. Surely, they can all wait another minute…er, hour…er day, right?
So, if it was so hard to stop last time, because there was so much to say, why is it so hard to get started again the next time?
So those are two of the dreary parts: starting and stopping. Other difficult parts, for me, include getting the first draft on paper and the waiting. By waiting, I mean the time between when the work is finished and when it finally sees print. (This period routinely lasts as long as one of those periods after which dinosaur eras are named. Whole races of reptilian relatives have been known to evolve, flourish, and go extinct in the time that the average writer has to wait to see their work in print.)
Other writers probably have other dreary parts as well. No two of us are the same. But the dreary parts take a lot out of you. They are enervating, draining life and energy like white, rectangular vampires. And sometimes, they really, really suck.
So…if it is so dreary, why do we do it?
The answer, of course, is: because of the fun parts.
What are the fun parts, you ask? Again, they are different for each of us. For me, the first fun part is editing. I hate getting the ideas out on paper. I love moving them around, polishing them, making them shine.
(This is convenient because currently I am completing the edits my editor sent for my second novel.* Because I like the editing party, I find this otherwise rather dreary task-making lots of little changes for clarity, etc.-fun and intriguing. This makes the necessary task a great deal easier!)
Doing research can be fun, too…especially when it’s a subject of interest. Facts that would otherwise seem dry as old dirt suddenly come alive and leap into one’s brain, waiting for their chance to reappear as some interesting observation. Of course, research can be dreary, if one is not interested in it. But usually it’s fun. (Probably, because I am a fantasy writer, so I seldom have to remember facts. I just have to borrow a mood.)
Other fun parts include seeing the finished product (especially seeing it for sale), going to conventions-I love that part-talking with other writers. And all sorts of little perks, things as simple as impressing the barista at B&N. (Very many people are impressed by discovering that someone is a writer they have never heard of, but the occasional ooh and aah of delight from those few who are impressed is just so much fun.)
Probably the part that is the most fun of all is having someone read the finished work. I mean, that’s why we really write it, isn’t it? While occasionally, there is a person who writes just to write, most of us want to tell a story and to share that story with someone.
Until recently, the someone who read my work was always a friend, usually a friend I hunted down, strapped to an easy chair, and begged to look my stuff over so as to give me advice. Since August, however, when my first book finally saw the fluorescent lights of bookstores, that someone has included strangers.
Most of these strangers I will never meet. But occasionally, I hear from an acquaintance or come upon a review where someone enjoyed the book. Then, I can’t help smiling and thinking, hey look, that drudgery was worth it all along!
*At the time of this second posting of this article, Ms. Lamplighter's third novel, Prospero Regained, is actually scheduled to release September 13, 2011.
__________________________________
Okay, folks...here is where you get to share your agony and ecstasy as a writer. Tell us what your drudgery and joy are. Who knows, we might be able to give you some advice on how to dodge the less enjoyable parts...or minimize them, anyway ;)