Sacrifices
Those little things we have given up to pursue this thing called writing.
Those things we neglect when we decide to pick up that pen and paper.
Those things that we forget about when we are buried head deep in our wip.
Those things we used to LOVE to do?
Yeah--THOSE things.
Playing in the park with your kids
Playing fetch with your dogHiking
Watching Vampire Dairies/Bones/insert random tv drama here
Watching reality shows
Cooking
Cleaning (I love to clean).
Going to garage sales
Visiting relatives
Going to church
Going to the museum
Going to the zoo
Going to the mall
Going to get ice cream
Just going anywhere
Eating out
Window shopping/normal shopping
Walking around Nashville in the fall, looking at the wonderful colors
Flea Markets
Building a snowman in the winter
Sledding
Laughing
Enjoying my family
Enjoying my job
Enjoying my life
I haven't written anything since January 1st. (I'm not counting those crappy 3 pages of a new wip I trashed). For those of you who are new here, that long of time fo me is unheard of. I've been writing almost two years now and have completed three full-length novels, one novella, two short stories, and a MG thingy for my daughter. I'm a MAJOR type A and this became another obsession I had to complete. I had to complete. Had. To. Completion requires publishing, right? So ...
I wrote, and wrote, and wrote, and wrote, and wrote. All. The. Time. It's all I thought about.
The process consumed me.
And now that I haven't written anything since January 1st? How does that make me feel? What does that make me see?
It makes me see all those things I've been missing. All those things I neglected. All those things I sacrificed for the sake of writing/editing/querying/going out of my mind. And I'm okay with that. I'm okay with knowing about what I've missed because now I can make sure the same thing doesn't happen in the future. The past two years have been warp speed with blur of my fingers across my keys and tears.
But now? Now I can make a difference in my life--and remember the things that are the most important. The things I forgot about. The things I don't ever want to forget about again. I can remember that I had a life outside of writing. I can function without worrying about that angry fit my MC is having on page 101 or I can sleep without freaking out about the turning point/death/violence/betrayal on page 205.
I can breathe.
Every writer's journey is different. Tell me about yours. Did/does this process consume you? What have you been missing? What have you sacrificed? What have you changed? What do you want to change?
~JD
15 comments:
This process is completely consuming for me, and balance is something I'm constantly searching for. Great post, JD.
Wow, you are so totally in my head right now.
All the stories have been written, all the writers go through the same angst.
Yay for taking time to breathe!!!! Good for you!!! I was very active (in a writerly way) last year but faced so many setbacks, my writerly mojo is comatose at the moment - but I'm enjoying just not being under pressure to acheive some writerly thing! I'm discovering my baking skills! Yay! take care
x
I'm with Sarah. I'm still consumed with the process, even more so now that my kids are in school full time. I thought I would now have time to do other things. True. As long as those other things involve writing. ;)
If you love cleaning, you can always come over to my house. :D
I haven't had to give up much, but then again I haven't accomplished much as a writer, either.
The process DOES consume me... on and off. I'm still learning to manage it, to recognize signs of obsession and head them off, both for sanity's sake, and my writing's sake because spastic writing (in my case anyway) usually means tons of junk writing, rather than useful writing.
And randomly, I tagged you in a meme over on my blog... :)
I miss being consumed by a writing project. This week I'm sidelined by my Little Bear's fever/ear infection and my own migraine problems. I want to get lost in my new book, but it's tough when I'm not ready to abandon querying my first ms.
I did give up prime writing time last week when the warm temperature demanded a bike ride. It was fabulous.
When I'm *in* it, yes, it does consume me. And then I feel guilty and won't write at all. It's a lose/lose really.
i'm pretty good about balancing things. I don't typically write after a certain time of day, or really on fridays or saturdays, so that gives me a lot of time to do other things
What a thought-provoking post! I've missed out on some fun stuff with my wife, but other things, like endless hours playing computer games, aren't such a big loss.
I've learned balance with my writing. When I'm on school vacation, I can write during the day while hubby is at work. Other than that, I get to write for an hour each night and that is it. Do I sometimes want to write more? Hell, yes! Do I? Nope. I stick with the schedule. Works for the marriage and the writing. :P GREAT POST!
I get consumed, it's true. But for that reason, I'm glad it didn't hit me til I was "OLD"--LOL! Of course, I still wish my children were a little older. I have to prioritize spending time with them and MAKE myself get out of the cave for them. I think... I hope they understand. :D <3
I'm glad to hear that you're finding some balance, Justine! =)
I, like you, have allowed myself to be consumed in the past. I am working on balance these days. So far so good.
I really have to force myself to put the writing aside when it's time to give my kids attention, but the people in my life have to come first. Cleaning, on the other hand, I'm very happy to do without. :)
YES.. I totally know what you mean about this being a very consuming process.. sometimes I feel like I just CAN't do anything else until I've gotten the story out :)
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