Okay, on to this question stared by the fabulous Eric. He wants to know:
What do you find to be the most challenging aspect of being a writer? What is your greatest reward from writing?
Great question, right? I perfect for my current place on this journey.
For me, the hardest part of being a writer is maintaining the confidence necessary to continue writing, in spite of everything else.
Writing, for me, is a tough task master. She requires 100% of me if I’m going to pour onto the paper the story that was meant to be told. She requires the stamina to continually rewrite and polish, all to get at the heart of the story. Writing requires bravery if I’m going to tackle the hard emotions with authenticity, humility to keep learning the craft, and perseverance to see a project through to the end.
And all of those qualities – stamina, bravery, humility, perseverance – require an aspect of confidence. But not just run-of-mill confidence, no. I’m talking about the confidence needed to climb back up the hill no matter how many times you fall down. The confidence to remember why you do this to begin with.
I’ve recently fallen down that hill. And this time (yeah, this time…I tend to fall down this hill a lot), getting up was one of the hardest things I’ve had to do so far in my writing career. I truly did not think I would. I considered walking away from writing. Permanently. Considered myself nuts for even trying to break into some aspects of this business.
Enter my writerly friends…they helped me remember the things I love about writing. Crafting the story. Getting lost inside of some character’s head a while. The freedom of creating that initial draft. The pure love of molding words on a page.
Yeah, I can’t walk away. I’m hooked.
And maybe that’s the best part of writing – that no matter what dark place I fall into as I try to reach my goals (and yes, writer’s at ALL PLACES in the journey STILL fall into those dark places), I know, deep down inside, that I can’t walk away. Not for long.
My muse will not silence.
I guess until it does, until I feel I have nothing left to say, I am here – learning to build my confidence and continue forging up the hill, one step at a time.
To hear other answers to Eric’s fab question, check out Kat’s response before me and Margie’s response tomorrow.
And to get a GREAT picture of what that hill looks like for a published writer, check out this post – it was truly inspirational to me.
Finally, I have a question for you…what is the hardest part of writing for YOU?