Reality Check What I Did for Love

[Pamela Jo]

A blog from Camille Pagan is an important reminder that the slog never ends. Even with a book deal the fight to keep up morale and keep going is never ending. It's about how you want to spend your time on this earth.

How Writers Revise: Camille Pagán and Betting on Herself

This post is part of the monthly How Writers Revise series, where I talk with successful authors about their editing and revision processes, as well as the challenges and setbacks they’ve faced in their careers and how they overcame them. If you’d like to receive these and my wee

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[LJ Beck]

"the slog never ends."

eek. I want my time on this earth to not be a slog.

I think it starts with expectations. The whole "‘Oh, I’m on my way" thing is the start of slog-ville. Just be where you're at. Like a participating observer of your own story as it's happening.

 

[Pamela Jo]

"the slog never ends."

eek. I want my time on this earth to not be a slog.

I think it starts with expectations. The whole "‘Oh, I’m on my way" thing is the start of slog-ville. Just be where you're at. Like a participating observer of your own story as it's happening.

I meant the slog of getting up and writing whether you feel like it or not. Whether anyone cares if you do or not. The same as someone practicing music or dance. Someone who does that is called a dancer or a musician. That'll be in their obituary. It's part of their identity. I think the fact that we hesitate to claim the title of writer unless we've been published and sold a million copies is part of what holds us back from getting up every morning and writing the way a dancer would dance or a musician make music.

 

[Hannah F]

There are "slog" bits in being a musician or dancer: the repetitious but necessary playing of scales and arpeggios; the repetitious but necessary stretching and bar exercises, rehearsing for the upcoming show even when your every muscle aches, performing as if you're carried on a wind when really you were up all night with diarrhoea (yes, that happened to me while performing at the Edinburgh Fringe a fair few years ago) and, of course, attention to diet - easy for some, a slog for others (actually was easy for me as I've no great interest in food. I just eat it for survival and strength).

P.S. I'm a writer. I'm not afraid to say so. I have had a couple of shorts published but I was already a writer or that wouldn't have happened. (And I'm a slogger. I like to channel myself and drive forwards).

 

[Pamela Jo]

There are "slog" bits in being a musician or dancer: the repetitious but necessary playing of scales and arpeggios; the repetitious but necessary stretching and bar exercises and, of course, attention to diet - easy for some, a slog for others.

As with writing. Others may trip gaily to their laptops every morning. For me, it's more a slog.

 

[LJ Beck]

As with writing. Others may trip gaily to their laptops every morning. For me, it's more a slog.

Ah! Got it. Well, you have my respect for being motivated and disciplined enough to do it anyway.

I wouldn't like doing scales, or repetitive boring stuff (although depends on your motivation) but I think writing is always something new, and exciting, and engaging. Open-ended possibilities. Never repetitive or boring. I guess I always feel like writing, even when I'm not writing, but I don't write every day. I don't track my word count, or time my writing sessions. When I write, it's more of a feeling of freedom, my private time to get into another world and let it take me away for as long as I can. I know people say WRITE EVERY DAY and I get it, but that's not my way.

Saying I'm a writer is like part of my core description. 5'8", Canadian, writer, female, etc. If you write regularly, and it's part of who you are, then you're a writer. Like being an artist. Funny, when I say I'm an artist, no one asks if I've published or sold any art.

I like this definition of a writer: A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles and techniques to communicate ideas.

It doesn't say "and work(s) must have been published, or sold x books, or have had a hit tv series made from it."

 

[Hannah F]

Ah! Got it. Well, you have my respect for being motivated and disciplined enough to do it anyway.

I wouldn't like doing scales, or repetitive boring stuff (although depends on your motivation) but I think writing is always something new, and exciting, and engaging. Open-ended possibilities. Never repetitive or boring. I guess I always feel like writing, even when I'm not writing, but I don't write every day. I don't track my word count, or time my writing sessions. When I write, it's more of a feeling of freedom, my private time to get into another world and let it take me away for as long as I can. I know people say WRITE EVERY DAY and I get it, but that's not my way.

Saying I'm a writer is like part of my core description. 5'8", Canadian, writer, female, etc. If you write regularly, and it's part of who you are, then you're a writer. Like being an artist. Funny, when I say I'm an artist, no one asks if I've published or sold any art.

I like this definition of a writer: A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles and techniques to communicate ideas.

It doesn't say "and work(s) must have been published, or sold x books, or have had a hit tv series made from it."

I'm with you. I write most days, but not every day because I like to write in long chunks, so I need those chunks of time, but open ended ones. If I'm away in imagination-space, I like to stay there until my trip (for that day) is done. I don't word count. The only alarm I ever use writing-wise is one that tells me it's time to sleep. There are many ways to move from start-line to goal.

 

[Pamela Jo]

Here Jane Friedman said it today inherblog. From another direction.

A note from Jane​ The only thing I knew for sure about Yellowstone National Park—before visiting earlier this month—is that it’s the home of Old Faithful. Good news/bad news: Old Faithful is exactly as advertised. Anyone who visits the park can rest assured they’ll see the eruption of the world’s most famous geyser, if they can be patient for 90 minutes or less. What I didn’t know is that Old Faithful is surrounded by geysers of all shapes and sizes: bigger ones, smaller ones, less predictable ones. Cute ones. Weird ones. Not to mention Yellowstone is full of countless, fascinating thermal features, like Mammoth Hot Springs, a complex of hot springs on a hill of travertine. I mentioned to my husband that Old Faithful is—how do I put it?—boring in comparison. Without missing a beat, he responded with one of my own lectures: sounds like what you always say about successful writers. They keep showing up, day after day, doing the work. There isn’t anything all that exciting, or secretive, about the most well-worn path to success. Consistency leads to results. Well, then, credit where credit is due, Old Faithful. Your fame is deserved. Jane

 

[LJ Beck]

I love Jane's work. It's said many times and many ways. And it's true too, for many people. Maybe all people. It might even be true for me. But it's still not my way.

The flip side to this is that there are people who write every day who have yet to see the fruits of their labours. (No one really talks about that though.) There are no guarantees, no matter what path you take. Might as well take the path that makes you happy along the way.

Sometimes I take a hiatus from work to write. Then I write mostly every day, when I can write for long stretches of time. It's a luxury to be able to do it, one I don't take lightly.

I do think about my story every day, though. Can't seem to help that.

 

[Pamela Jo]

I'm so pleased for this woman who I know from another writer's group. She is an example of someone playing the long game. I've watched her build to this it by bit. Not by social media presence or Tik Tok, which is what makes it so inspiring.

Legend Press signs two 'breath-taking' novels from Hamilton

Legend Press has signed a two-book deal with Anne Hamilton for The Almost Truth and The Island In April.

www.thebookseller.com