Unpredictable

There are lots of quotes about making  plans and how God laughs at us. Life is uncertain and can surprise us in every facet of our world.

Few of us followed the exact career path we had planned on when we started out on our own. I'm sure some of the readers of this blog are still going to find a few zigzags along the way to a fulfilling job. Many of those twists and turns are not things we can see ahead of time.

Personal and family relationships can be very unpredictable. I have four sisters and two brothers and all my relationships with those siblings are a little different. I would never have thought when growing up that miles and miles would separate us. Now my own children are grown and starting to scatter. My youngest son moved to Colorado yesterday to begin a six month internship that will

Colorado

hopefully lead to a good job placement ... anywhere.

Writing careers are like that. At times I've felt that my writing would develop into writing all epic fantasy, my first love for reading and writing. But I've been so pleased by the performance of some of my recent romances and have enjoyed writing them, that I now think my career will likely stay divided into my Susan Gourley, fantasy author and Susan Kelley, romance author. And I'm feeling very comfortable with that.

What unexpected turns has your life taken in your career, your home, and perhaps your writing life? Do you expect to have twists and turns along your path to fulfillment?

Could Be Anyone

I had the pleasure of hearing James Rollins speak at a writing conference a few years ago. Among other things, I learned he was a veteranarian by trade and came to writing after establishing his first career.  I know another writer who retired from a medical practice to be a full time writer. Some writers are housewifes, business professionals, work in retail or any variety of careers in addition to their job as an author. 

A number of the writers I know are teachers as their day job. A few actually have language arts or journalism degrees.  Starting a seperate career as a writer doesn't seem like a long stretch from that background.  But not all writer have an education geared toward their literary endeavors. Though many take classes or attend conferences to learn the trade, only some go so far as to get that MFA or something similar.   A writer can be anyone.

As I sit in the BAM cafe preparing this blog I look around at the other patrons.  Three have laptops out, notebooks, papers and writing utensils scattered across the small wooden tables. Two others have stacks of books and magazines they're flipping through. Research? Idea search?  Are they writers?  How would I know?  Do writers look different than other people?

Thanks to required schooling, we are all writers though some of us are happier about than others.  But only a few lucky people get to pay their mortgage with their writing income.  Do you know a writer with a career you think is odd for a creative person? Is it you?

Many Road, One Destination

Those of you who have been reading my blog the past few months know I've been doing numerous road trips with my daughter on college visits. We spend Monday and Tuesday in Boston, visiting Boston University.  Great school and one of my daughter's top choices if we can work out the money.  But this post isn't about colleges.

Driving the six and a half hours to our appointment, we ploughed and floated our way through driving rain and stop and go traffic.  I found the interstates from eastern New York State to Boston to be pretty much a road through one big metropolis.  Cities just kind of overlapped.  It was some tense driving in the early morning hours.  Then we get to Boston and, well, doesn't that city believe in street signs. I'm not sure if they were missing or just not there.  Thank goodness for the borrowed GPS or we would never have found the admissions office.  And parking? I don't really care for cities. Traffic. Noise. So many people! On the up side, lots of Starbucks and other coffee bars.

Then the drive home after a good night's sleep in a great hotel.  Doesn't any one work during the day? I swear the entire population of Connecticut and Massachusetts was on the road with us.  Stop and go. Frustrating.  Then we stopped for gas and asked the GPS to take us home from the gas station.  It took us over the scenic mountains and through small towns with strange names.  We saw numerous lakes in New York, farms and crossed a really cool bridge over the Hudson.  Eventually we returned to an interstate but our moods stayed high after our wonderful trek off the beaten path.

I couldn't help but thing of the many different paths writers take toward publication.  Some authors land contracts with big traditional publishers and suffer all the highs and lows of that.  Some find homes for their work with smaller publishers and though they may not make the big money with an advance, they have a chance at decent royalties and may enjoy a more intimate relationship with their publisher.  And more and more authors are taking the third path and publishing their books themselves.  Success for them varies from amazing to not so great. 

But the journey to publication is part of the adventure.  Hopefully you're traveling a path that isn't as stressful and frustrating as the interstate I was driving on yesterday.  My route over the Bear Mountain Expressway provided me with many sights and memories I'll hang onto for a while.  It was relaxing while still getting me where I needed to go. Sometimes deadlines, promotional responsibilities and the need to constantly network can leach away the joy of writing.  Find the right path and have a fun trip on your way to publication.

Are you happy with the path you're taking in your writing career? Have you ever taken a turn you wish you hadn't or that turned out to be exactly correct?

H: Hungry

If you've ever been to a writing conference and heard an inspiring speaker, you know what I'm talking about. If you're lucky enough to have face to face networking opportunities with fellow writers, you understand.  If one of your friends experienced a big success in their writing career, you've felt it.

I'm talking about that hungry feeling.  Hunger for success.  A drive to finish that story, promote your work and make contacts inspired by your inner drive and the support of other writers. 

Sometimes a set back can depress that drive and perhaps even tempt a writer to quit and hang up the keyboard.  Frustration can kill the appetite to continue and do better.  Everyone has an occasional doubt but those with that hungry fire for success burning inside their writing soul will bounce back.  Their inner desire to create will reignite their imagination and words will flow from their minds through their fingers to the keyboard a work will be born.

So stay hungry like you were when you first started.  Keep working at it.  What gets your drive going in high gear? Are you still as hungry as when you first started or are you more driven to continue?

Professional Writers

New Word: 
Lucubrator- One who writes scholarly material.

Is your writing an enjoyable hobby or is it your profession? I know many people, myself included, work full time jobs to pay the bills but still call ourselves writers. Where is the delineation between professional and recreational writers? I know dozens of people who would love to make their living as a writer, stay home, and leave the old 9-5 job behind forever. Does having that other career, teaching in my case, mean I can’t claim writing as my career?

I think there are a number of things to mark a professional writer and being published doesn’t have to be one of them. A person serious about a writing career will pursue opportunities to improve their craft by attending workshops and conferences. Pennwriters is a group I count on for such opportunities. They will work with critique partners and join communities of writers, seeking out those of like mind.
A professional writer will commit to the time needed to create works, edit them and make contacts with others in their profession. This means more than sitting at the keyboard for a few hours each day. In today’s world a writer must network with readers and fellow authors. Another aspect of this is the willingness to spend time on a piece of work to improve it. How many times will you willingly rewrite and edit a manuscript or story? Is there a limit to the changes you’ll make in your masterpiece?
Does writing one piece a professional make? Will you write that one story and circulate it until kingdom comes or will you continue to create new work, each piece an improvement over earlier works?
Are you committed to a writing career forever or are you giving yourself a certain amount of time to make it and then you’ll give it up if you don’t? I know a teacher who took a leave for one year to write a fantasy novel. He did and he never sold it. He quit trying. I don’t consider him a professional writer. You have to be in for the long haul though there are those who’ve made it big with a first novel.
How many rejections can you rise above? Will you keep going no matter the frustrations and disappointments? Experienced writers will warn you of the rejections to come but even when expecting them they can hit you low. And even once you’ve sold some books or stories, there is no guarantee you’ll sell the next one.
So are you in this business with eternal hope? Are you a professional or a hobbyist? Have you considered quitting? What keeps you going after being rejected?