Last night, I read an article about Stephen King (which I can't seem to find again), where he talked about writing less. I found the quote on his website:
I know some writers want to be commercially published, some want to make money and/or quit their day jobs, some want to be famous and so on.
And although I'm glad I make money as a writer (mostly from my day job, which is writing, and far, far less from my creative hobby, which is writing), for it allows me to spend most of my time writing, King's quote nails it for me.
When I was younger and less realistic, I used to think that by my enthusiastically sharing with others this or that great book I've read would drive them to do likewise so we could talk about it, which, when I've read something compelling, I naturally want to do.
I feel the same about the words I've written. But feature stories, although they find more readership, also have a shorter shelf life, so to speak. They're read today and forgotten before tomorrow.
My fiction, although it has more staying power, has a far shorter reach and less of an audience. Either way, at the end of the day, I spend most of my time crafting words I'll never discuss, and, even if I do, certainly not anywhere near the same depth in which I wrote them.
So the ultimate satisfaction, I think, must come from the process, which, for writers seeking readers of their work, ought to bring comfort when sales are slow.
Nevertheless, having someone to read the words is indeed the culmination. For that reason, I feel, the entire process isn't finished when we hit "publish."
It's when someone clicks on the link or picks up the book that we, as writers, can truly say, "It is finished."
I'm writing but I'm writing at a much slower pace than
previously and I think that if I come up with something really, really good, I
would be perfectly willing to publish it because that still feels like the
final act of the creative process, publishing it so people can read it and you
can get feedback and people can talk about it with each other and with you, the
writer.
I know some writers want to be commercially published, some want to make money and/or quit their day jobs, some want to be famous and so on.
And although I'm glad I make money as a writer (mostly from my day job, which is writing, and far, far less from my creative hobby, which is writing), for it allows me to spend most of my time writing, King's quote nails it for me.
When I was younger and less realistic, I used to think that by my enthusiastically sharing with others this or that great book I've read would drive them to do likewise so we could talk about it, which, when I've read something compelling, I naturally want to do.
I feel the same about the words I've written. But feature stories, although they find more readership, also have a shorter shelf life, so to speak. They're read today and forgotten before tomorrow.
My fiction, although it has more staying power, has a far shorter reach and less of an audience. Either way, at the end of the day, I spend most of my time crafting words I'll never discuss, and, even if I do, certainly not anywhere near the same depth in which I wrote them.
So the ultimate satisfaction, I think, must come from the process, which, for writers seeking readers of their work, ought to bring comfort when sales are slow.
Nevertheless, having someone to read the words is indeed the culmination. For that reason, I feel, the entire process isn't finished when we hit "publish."
It's when someone clicks on the link or picks up the book that we, as writers, can truly say, "It is finished."
Illustration by Kathleen Rose Van Pelt for "Bryony."
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