I saw an article once about a guy who successfully faked his own death, then reappeared after many years. When they asked him why he did it, he gave an answer that has stuck with me for decades.
"Never get really good at something you hate. They'll make you do it for the rest of your life."
Now, I don't hate my job. I actually love several aspects of it, and I'm really good at it. But I've been doing it a long time, and it's getting old. Worse, there are aspects of it that I truly, truly hate. And as I go on, the latter aspects begin to overwhelm the former. But it pays the bills, sometimes almost spectacularly.
I started writing when I was a kid. I still have a "book" I wrote when I was 7 years old, just a bunch of typed pages stapled together and given out to relatives (I think my Mom did the typing). Its always what I wanted to do, but I never understood how to make money at it, and, for most of that time, traditional publishing was the only possibility. One that seemed too daunting and too much like hitting the lottery. Not an excuse, just how I thought then.
I've kept dabbling all this time, through innumerable jobs and even a complete change of career, but never seriously. Occasionally, the bug would bite harder and I'd give it a harder push, but it always petered out.
During a recent period of semi-voluntary hiatus between gigs. I decided to take it more seriously. I started putting stuff online, both here and on mainstream sites. Started participating in forums, thinking about marketing, started really trying to get my skills to the next level.
Then I got another long-term gig. Had to, the bills were piling up. But now I feel more serious about writing, and it's what I really want to do. Always have, really, even if I always put it aside as a pipe dream. But my time is too choppy to keep my head in it. Now, when I have down time, I think about what I need to do next on the work project, not the story I'm working on. When I sit down to write, I have to spend a lot of time remembering where I was at when I stopped days ago, what I was thinking, where I was going. And now it is going nowhere.
I'm staring to resent my bills-paying job. Not really, it's with good people and a good project, but there are days. A lot of them. I feel like I'm getting too old for this, like this is my last chance...
Apologies for venting, but I have an unexpected break in the work for an hour or two, and hey, this counts as writing, right?
I know alot of you are just writing here for fun, but some are serious about it. Either way, maybe some of you can learn something from my woe-is-me rant.
"Never get really good at something you hate. They'll make you do it for the rest of your life."
Now, I don't hate my job. I actually love several aspects of it, and I'm really good at it. But I've been doing it a long time, and it's getting old. Worse, there are aspects of it that I truly, truly hate. And as I go on, the latter aspects begin to overwhelm the former. But it pays the bills, sometimes almost spectacularly.
I started writing when I was a kid. I still have a "book" I wrote when I was 7 years old, just a bunch of typed pages stapled together and given out to relatives (I think my Mom did the typing). Its always what I wanted to do, but I never understood how to make money at it, and, for most of that time, traditional publishing was the only possibility. One that seemed too daunting and too much like hitting the lottery. Not an excuse, just how I thought then.
I've kept dabbling all this time, through innumerable jobs and even a complete change of career, but never seriously. Occasionally, the bug would bite harder and I'd give it a harder push, but it always petered out.
During a recent period of semi-voluntary hiatus between gigs. I decided to take it more seriously. I started putting stuff online, both here and on mainstream sites. Started participating in forums, thinking about marketing, started really trying to get my skills to the next level.
Then I got another long-term gig. Had to, the bills were piling up. But now I feel more serious about writing, and it's what I really want to do. Always have, really, even if I always put it aside as a pipe dream. But my time is too choppy to keep my head in it. Now, when I have down time, I think about what I need to do next on the work project, not the story I'm working on. When I sit down to write, I have to spend a lot of time remembering where I was at when I stopped days ago, what I was thinking, where I was going. And now it is going nowhere.
I'm staring to resent my bills-paying job. Not really, it's with good people and a good project, but there are days. A lot of them. I feel like I'm getting too old for this, like this is my last chance...
Apologies for venting, but I have an unexpected break in the work for an hour or two, and hey, this counts as writing, right?
I know alot of you are just writing here for fun, but some are serious about it. Either way, maybe some of you can learn something from my woe-is-me rant.
