WAITING

Penelope

Poor Penelope waited patiently for years for her husband, Odysseus, to return from his long journey. But her patience paid off, and eventually he return.

I'm kind of like Penelope now— playing the waiting game for news about my novel "Shadow of the Lion"  I've sent it out to several publisher, some in UK and others in US and it takes months to get any responses. The frustrating part is also that every submission guideline is different so I have to alter the queries and enclosures with each submission. This can be confusing and time consuming.

So, though I haven't been writing much on my blog these days, it's because I've been occupied with this other task. As well, I am working on the other novel "Dragons in the Sky"  I've done a little bit of new writing for it, but mostly I've been making notes and editing from suggestions made by my Scribblers writer's group.

Then there's the travel writing. I try to keep up with the two stories a month I like to submit to EuropeUpClose (on-line) and still have a list of stories to prepare for other freelance markets. Oh, if only I had the time!

These days I am still instructing classes. (Today I had an all-day class in memoir writing, just the same as I did last weekend.) And I have Write from the Heart groups Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday mornings plus a creative writing class Tuesday nights. Next month I'm thinking of launching an in-home writing group again but I'm waiting for these others to wind down. I also attend my faithful and inspiring writing critique group, The Scribblers, every Monday night.

Somewhere in between I squeeze in some pleasure and leisure time. I love going to listen to jazz or the blues and hang out with my friends. This is Oscar weekend so I'm having a little party tomorrow, formal and classy, with my girlfriends.

Then I'll be back at the writing and editing again. And hopefully I'll post a few more blogs soon.
Meanwhile, thanks for reading!

WRITING IS WORK!

Don't kid yourself. Writing is work. And it can be very difficult work that requires a lot of concentration and skill. Some people think it's 'glamorous' to be a writer, believing that somehow novels are produced by osmosis or some kind of magical abrecadabra system. It's not true. Writing IS work.

It took me a long time to reach the point where I could say "I'm a full time writer", but that doesn't mean I just laze around home all day, playing at the computer, going on adventures, spinning tales. No. I really have to work at it if I want to make my writing 'pay'. Unfortunately this isn't as easy as a non-writer might think. For one thing, it's a big deal just trying to stay focused on what I'm supposed to be doing. There are countless distractions and I'm an expert at procrastinating or finding something more interesting to occupy my time. How many times a day does one need to check their e-mail or visit Facebook? That's just the beginning of all the numerous ways there are to avoid doing the 'work'.

In spite of teaching classes at which I go over the 'rules' of being a successful writer, I don't necessarily pay attention to them myself. Rome didn't get built in a day. Neither did a best selling novel.

Writing can be very discouraging work as well. If you are working on a novel, it can seem endless. Don't kid yourself into believing that a novel can be whipped up in a few months. It sometimes takes years! And don't think just because you have a good idea for a story that you'll be able to spin that story out in just a draft or two. Writing, rewriting, editing...it's endless!

Just to remind myself of the pitfall of writing, I will write down some of the basic 'rules' here and perhaps in doing so it will stimulate me to start paying attention to the task(s) at hand, because I have to do this in order to make any new headway on the novel (which is still not completely finished) and to also make time for the travel writing that I must do. As the travel writing (for Planet Eye Traveler and freelance markets) is one of my sources of income, this is very important. I also teach writing classes, another source of income that allows me the privilege of being a 'full time writer', but this also takes a lot of preparation. So it is most important to be organized and discipline. Someone recently wrote a statement that 'writing is 5% talent and 95% perseverance' Well, in the first place you need way more than 5% talent to write successfully otherwise it's a waste of your time. But you definitely need a lot of perseverance, maybe even 100%! Writing is not easy and it can be downright discouraging. So be be successful you must persevere.

What does it take to be a writer? Basic ability is not enough. You must observe these 5 D's: DESIRE, the desire to write that novel more than anything else! DRIVE: the drive to get started. DETERMINATION: the will to continue whatever the stumbling blocks and difficulties encountered along the way (there will be lots!); DISCIPLINE; The discipline to writer every day, whatever your mood; DEDICATION - to the project until the very last page is finished. At all costs, avoid this 6th "D" DISTRACTIONS: the enemy of all writers. And then there is the very important "C": COMMITMENT. When you start a project such as a novel, you must be committed if you want to finish the work. Sure, sometimes you need to take a break, do some other kind of writing, or tend to personal affairs, but if you are serious about your work you will come back to it refreshed and with new ideas that will help you COMPLETE your project.
This novel will be with you for a long time, so you better have thought about it beforehand. When it's ready to be written, you'[ll know. It will be with you day and night. You'll even dream about it. So, if you prefer painting, cooking or watching TV, forget it! Now, get busy and start WORKING!






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PROGRESS REPORT 31: SIDETRACKED!

These are the first of the Japanese cherry blossoms heralding Spring

It wasn't so much 'procrastination' as it was getting sidetracked the past week or so that kept me from getting back to work on Shadow of the Lion. It seems I had no end of editing to do on things for my travel website as well as for classes etc. I attended an all-day editing for fiction course at S.F.U. last weeks too, which provided me with inspiration and advice on how to go about editing my final draft of Shadow, as well as the other editing I do for other people. I'm taking another all-day course this coming week too and one again in April. My aim is to take as many editing courses as I can to give me more credentials for doing this as private work.

There were also media shows these past weeks which I went to : a breakfast for European Travel; a preview showing at IMEX of "Whales and Dolphins: Tribes of the Ocean" which was amazing! and the same day there was a briefing for media on local points of interest to write about for the coming 2010 Olympics. At that one a 5***** chef had made all the canapes and finger-foods which were bountiful and delicious and the wine pourers kept pouring. I managed to do my share of schmoozing too. There was another one the following day but I passed on it because I had a class (memoirs) in the morning and another class (travel) at night. Just as well as I heard they were serving mojitos. (This is one of the bonus points of being in the travel media!)

As for the novel, I managed to sort out the discrepancies in locales without having to really rewrite anything -- mainly cutting & pasting with a few small adjustments. That was quite a relief! Then I set it aside for a few days which turned into a longer time due to other distractions and commitments. But today I finally resumed the work on it, sorting out what comes next and getting Olympias and the royal household settled in the sea fortress at Pydna. (It's sort of like the "Last days of Pompeii")

My classes end this week so there will be more time now. And I have all the newest stories ready to publish on my travel website, so
Shadow will have my undivided attention.

By the way, last week I tagged a couple of people for a memoir meme on my "Conversations with myself" blog at http://ruthakik.blogspot.com Check it out and join the fun!

An afternoon of reflection at Central Park, Burnaby B.C.