Always quirky, sometimes sweet speculative fiction

Ten Things I Love About Writing

Oh Yeah!

As followers of my facebook page would know, on Monday I hit the legendary 50,000 words in my NaNoWriMo novel. As awesome as that is, in my plotting I projected the novel would actually be 100,000 to 120,000 long, typical epic fantasy stand-alone length, so I’m barely half way through, so I’ve got to keep up the momentum.

The other day, on The Vixen Gamer’s facebook profile I found the following task set by Ray Bradbury for writers. He suggests you write down ten things you love about writing and ten things you don’t really love. Here’s mine:

I like:

1 – The feeling when the story just flows and I can write for ages almost without pause. My husband says I can write faster than he reads and that makes me grin so much there’s no space left on my face for my cheeks,

2 – The way that even if I have to drive a long distance by myself, my characters and scenarios just play in my head and keep me company, also works for boring periods at work and menial tasks around the house,

3 – The feeling when you write a sentence that sings, and you didn’t even try!

4 – Re-reading my work and getting wrapped up, excited and emotional – even though I know what’s going to happen

5 – Creating characters and making all their scars, complexities, dreams and fears, even though I don’t get to share it all with the reader – those bits are my little secret *Cheshire cat-style grin*.

6 – I write far better than I speak, I’m more articulate and communicate more easily,

7 – The swell of excitement I get when I write a new idea down for the first time and it just keeps expanding on itself,

8 – Being able to write a character that may make a real person feel good about themselves or smile when they identify with them,

9 – Making magic systems, races, cultures, creatures, entire worlds – I must have a god complex,

10 – Having an awesome excuse to research fun things (like medieval inventions and Greek mythology) and calling it work.

Dislike:

1 – Stopping at ten for the ‘like’ list,

2 – The fear that people will be enraged or full of hate (for me or the character) at my portrayal of ‘different’ characters,

3 – When I desperately want to keep writing, but either my son needs me or the housework is overdue to be done or I have to go to work >.< also the guilt that follows the ‘I’d rather be writing’ feeling,

4 – When my personal mood differs from that in the passage I am writing and that feeling begins to seep into the scene but doesn’t fit at all

5 – When I NEED to stick to the current story but another idea just keeps banging on the door like a salesman that just won’t give up,

6 – Pressure to live up to the expectations of certain people who seem to think one book published and I’ll be JK Rowling or Stephen King,

7 – Writing ‘rules’ that make you second guess yourself,

8 – That there is never enough time to write everything I want

9 –?

10 – ?

I couldn’t quite come up with ten dislikes. Oh well, a good sign I guess.

Any you agree/disagree with? Anything you might add? Are there ten pros and cons for your dream job?

5 Comments

  1. Liz

    During my brief stint as an Elementary Education major, my favorite part about the forty-five minute drive was going through scenes and dialogue out loud to keep me company. Now I go through it while I’m at work — and in my head so no one thinks I’m crazy. 😉

    There isn’t much I dislike about writing. Sometimes I find it hard to get into the mood to write. I guess I dislike that I have to basically talk myself into it. I definitely hate when I’m writing, feelin’ it, and then something tears me away. (Can we just make day jobs disappear?)
    Liz recently posted..“Can you manage to keep your mouth shut until they’ve left?” | Excerpt: A Prescription for Delirium, by Noree CosperMy Profile

    • Kirstie

      I don’t mind my day job too much, it’s good fun, not too stressful and not too far from home anymore. The only negative is it could pay more so I didn’t have to go so often. It would be lovely to have enough money to just be a stay-at-home mum/writer full time rather than juggling the part time in with the other two. My dream is to make enough money from writing to do just that, take care of the kids and write. My husband’s dream is for both of us to be able to do that ;p

  2. Erica

    Your amazing Kirsty! I wish I had your passion and dedication to write!

  3. Faith

    Day 19–that’s awesome, congrats! 🙂

    “That there is never enough time to write everything I want”

    This is definitely my top thing I hate about writing, too.
    Faith recently posted..Prophecy Girl Coming November 20thMy Profile

    • Kirstie

      Thank-you, I’m still pretty chuffed about it even now. Knowing me, I’ll still be strutting about it until next November ;p

      It is very frustrating never having the time to get all the stories written. I sometimes look at all my ideas and I know there is no way I’ll ever get to write all of them, even if I do live to a ripe old age. The thought disheartens me because I have to choose what idea to work on next, thus rejecting all these other ones. It’s like when you have to fire an employee you get along with great personally, but who has no work ethic – you have no choice in the matter, but you feel like you’re knifing a friend in the back(you can probably tell I’ve had to fire a few friends from reading that).

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