A sure sign that I’ve lost my way is that I start to think about going to law school. It happened again last month, so I spent some time re-examining my goals last week. I reached a few conclusions:
1. I reminded myself that I’m not writing fiction for the money.
That’s not to say that I won’t take it if it comes, or that I’ll keep my day job even if I some day discover that writing fiction brings me enough to live on, but when I start thinking about writing fiction as a way to make a living, a peculiar thing happens: I can no longer write. More to the point, I can’t focus on anything long enough to write it. Whatever I’m working on now? Not good enough. Maybe this other thing… and pretty soon I’m spinning my wheels.
Yes, I would love to hit the best seller list consistently enough to write full-time, but I cannot make that my primary goal. I have to write what I want (and love) to write and make it as good as I can, rather than chase trends. What’s hot right now might not be hot next year, and even if it were, it’s not necessarily going interest me.
2. I confirmed that my primary goal is to publish a novel.
And then repeat that process as often as I can. And I’m talking about publishing with a professional publisher, not self-publishing. No disrespect intended toward those who self-publish. I considered a few possibilities in the self-publishing arena; it’s simply not where I want to go. So I’ll keep working on No Humans Involved. When I finish that, I’ll start a new novel, then come back and revise it. I’ll seek an agent, try to get published via the traditional route.
3. I decided to continue to write short stories.
It’s not an art form that comes naturally to me, but writing short stories has benefits that translate into publishing novels. It hones skills I need to improve and as I get stories published, that helps build a platform that can help me publish novels.
Two years ago, I discarded the idea of putting off what I most want to do so that I can spend more time on it later, with no certainty that there will be a later. I was right to reject it then, and I’m right to reject it now. Occasionally I need to remind myself of that.
3 responses so far ↓
1 Terry Odell // Jun 11, 2009 at 9:22 am
I have a cross-stitch in my kitchen that says, “Life is Uncertain–Eat Dessert First.”
Good luck with the short stories. I find them extremely difficult to write. And there’s not a huge paying market for them either.
2 Heather // Jun 12, 2009 at 9:04 pm
One lawyer is enough, thank you.
3 Sam // Jun 13, 2009 at 7:16 am
One lawyer in a town will starve to death. Two lawyers can make a pretty good living.
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