Milestones

In writing, milestones are sometimes fuzzy. When we start out writing, we expect that measurements of when we’ve “made it” to be clear and easily defined. We’ll sit down with our notebooks, at our typewriters, at our laptops, and we’ll type away until a book – novel, non-fiction, memoir, it doesn’t matter – appears beneath our fingers. Or we’ll jet about the country, finding interesting people, uncovering earth-shattering news, writing the details of what we find, and our names and our words will appear on the cover of Time or National Geographic. Regardless of the writing track we’re pursuing, it will be easy. We’ll sit down, write, and publish. We will make a living from our writing. We will be writers. Easy peasy.

Reality soon shatters our illusions. Writing is hard. Sure, the stories are in our head; the interesting people are out there. But using words to create images on the page is not as easy as it sounds. People with stories that need to be told don’t just appear next to us while we wait in line at the grocery. Not to mention the old adage “writing is rewriting” is far truer than we could have ever imagined. This writing thing is work. It takes time and energy. Research takes effort and, in some cases, money.

That’s the other thing we writers soon learn. It takes an incredibly long time to make a living from our words and in the meantime, we have to pay our rent and put food on the table. Even when we have loved ones who make enough to keep a roof over our heads and our bellies full, they often don’t make enough to pay for braces, a second car, Julia’s band dues, or for us to pay postage to keep sending manuscripts out. We have to do something to contribute to the household’s financial well-being while we wait for the world to discover us. In some cases, that means a day job – part-time or full-time. For others, that means getting really creative and finding ways to make our writing pay for itself in the meantime. In many ways, the day job is easier.

Through it all, our families and friends, keep waiting for us to “make it,” as do we. When, people ask, will we be able to take them on a celebratory trip to Disney World? With each achievement they want to know if they can auction off our stolen underwear on eBay yet or hold our cat for ransom. Can they say they knew us when? And with each guess-where-I-just-got-accepted-e-mail, we answer “not yet.”

In traditional careers, the milestones are easier to recognize. A raise. A promotion. A title added to our business cards. In writing – as in most creative endeavors – the markers of success are not that clearly defined. First acceptance is certainly one, as is the first rejection. First sale for money. First request for something specific. First letter from someone who has read your work. First… In truth, writing is a career of firsts and they all mean something to us, even if they don’t mean we’ve made it yet.

Over time, we come to recognize the truth of that other adage, the one that says it takes twenty years to become an overnight success. Being a writer, we realize, is not a destination, but a journey, no matter how cliché that may sound. Each achievement is not so much a milestone as it is a signpost confirming we are traveling toward our goals. It is progress. We might, one day, be able to make a living at our craft or become a household name. I question if we will have arrived even then. More than likely, those achievements will be yet another signpost on our path, telling us we are still growing in the direction we chose for ourselves so long ago. In the distance, there will be still another goal waiting for us and we will still be telling our friends and family “not yet,” this achievement is not the destination, but merely a step in the journey we are on.

Peace This Thanksgiving

Dear Lord; we beg but one boon more:
Peace in the hearts of all men living,
peace in the whole world this Thanksgiving.
~Joseph Auslander

Bad Blogger. Bad.

The presence of smart alecks in the proceeding post’s comment trail tell me that it has been far too long since I posted anything at The Commune. They are, of course, correct. It has been far too long since I’ve posted anything here. Bad Lori. Bad writer. Bad editor. Bad blogger. Bad, bad Lori.

What amazes me is, while I’ve been away – okay, while I’ve been negligent in my blogger duties – my followers have grown in number. *waves at followers* This makes me feel special in the good way, though why they would choose to follow a neglected blog… Maybe I shouldn’t feel too special? After all, a couple of them look a little shadowy. Has The Commune become the dark alley where ne’er-do-wells hangout, waiting for their next victim in lawless cyberspace?

Oops. Sorry. Didn’t mean to head off on a tangent like that. It happens sometimes these days. I blame a combination of a lack of sleep, a lack of dreaming when I do sleep, and a lack of fiction writing. All of my brain’s creative outlets are shut off, so it takes whatever creative opportunities pass its way. Bad brain.

While I’ve been absent – I prefer that to the more accurate negligent – I read an article about how ignoring your readers was the same as telling them they were not important to you. This is not true. You are important to me. So, on top of everything else , I now feel guilty about not updating here as regularly as I said I would.

Anyway, I’m still out here, eating vanilla wafers and drinking Diet Coke and/or hot tea, working a part-time day job, editing other people’s manuscripts, riding herd on my stable of authors, adding words to my thesis, oohing and aahing over office supplies, and occasionally changing my sheets. It’s an exciting life I lead, I tell you, but not a bad one.

What’s up in your lives?

Writing Speaks to Us

Non-fiction speaks to the head,
Fiction to the heart,
And poetry to the soul.

Inspiration

Sometimes, inspiration comes to you from unknown places. Sometimes, random thoughts come together and create a new idea. Sometimes, it's something someone else has said or that you've seen or heard. Sometimes, it comes from a dream. And, other times, you wake up, realizing you have something to say, something to share, and knowing exactly what that something is and how to accomplish it.