I remember the first time I enjoyed writing. It was my last writing assignment in English class on the last year of middle school. The assignment was to write a story, that's it, no format to follow. I was loving it and got an A. My teacher told me that I have the best paper in that class and in all of is other classes too, I was feeling good when I heard that. All through high school was loving the writing assignment that did't have a format and always got an A. But when I try to write at home I don't get that feeling all time, and I hate it. I felt like I finally found what I wanted to do for a living, now I don't know. Would love to hear other peoples opinion about this. Thank you.
Could be that you loved getting a response, having a deadline. It gave you motivation and a goal. Now that it's more free form with no feedback or praise you're allowing yourself the slack. Maybe give yourself a new goal, write a short story for a magazine or a short story contest and see how it goes. I'm up and down about my feelings on my writing - sometimes it's total frustration, sometimes it's elation. I don't think I've always felt up about my writing, there's too much work involved! lol.
That's the kind of question only one person can answer, and that's you. Why is there, do you think, a difference between writing at home and writing at school? Is it simply because of the congratulations? If not just that, how can you make writing at home more enjoyable?
My initial thought was to say "not if you want to remain sane." But, it all depends on what you really mean by being a writer for a living. It's actually pretty hard to earn a living just by writing novels and short stories and such. Most people need to do something else to bring in steady income -- many do this in some writing-related field, often journalism/reporting, or editing, or even teaching. But plenty of people do other, completely unrelated jobs and write as a hobby, some hoping that they can eventually earn enough money through writing to quit or scale back on their other jobs, some not ever intending to use it as a source of income. It's really up to you and how much enjoyment you get from it. If you're really a writer, deep down inside, no matter what you choose to do, at some point you'll come back to it.
Some people will get what I mean by this: is it something you feel you need to do, what what you want to do? Have you ever woke up late at night and just not been able to sleep until you wrote a few lines down that were just bugging you - that wouldn't shut up? Do you feel uncomfortable if you haven't written anything in, say, a week? Do you find yourself focusing completely on a story idea and could be entertained for hours working it out and writing it in your head for later? If so you are a writer, published or not. Being a writer can sometimes be hard work, though I've always had a way with words personally. But throughout all the trials you will find if you really are a 'writer' you'll be comfortable in doing what you were born to do, and that is a certain kind of privilege. There are some people who just don't have that privilege. Compared to this, material success is really quite secondary.
Ever consider other forms of fiction writing? Like a screenplay? Song writing? Poetry? Maybe something other than traditional short story/novel writing would shake something loose in you.
If you have to ask, the answer is probably "No." Writing requires a huge commitment, to continually improve, to deal with multiple rejections, and to proofread and revise manuscripts well beyond the point of any excitement about the story you have created. It's easy to get excited when you conceive of an amazing story idea, and when you dream of everyone who lays eyes on it becoming entranced. But it's hard to maintain that enthusiasm thorough the entire process of whipping the story into shape. The answer becomes "Yes" when despite all that, you can't stay away. The story haunts you relentlessly until you have poured blood and soul into it and finally have made it good enough to submit.
I believe that writing as a hobby and being a writer are two very different things. That's why my current sig is being used. Do you want to be a writer? As mentioned, if you have to ask then no. But do you like to write? Writing is more than just building creative stories. You can use quality writing in many areas of your life, and you can enjoy constructing quality communication without needing to be creative or write a book.
I've struggled with passion. I like to write, but do I love it? Not sure. What I do know is that I have a story to tell and won't be satisfied until it's told. Maybe it'll take me years, it doesn't matter, because at the very least I'm committed to seeing it through to the end.
I've struggled with the same problem(s). I, too, loved writing in high school and would get good marks. Coming to university (and studying Creative Writing) has been a conflicting experience. On one hand, it's exhilirating because when you do get positive feedback, it's amazingly inspiring. It's harder when you get negative feedback. You convince yourself you suck, etc. etc. And it's very true that something as a hobby is much more relaxed--I mean, you don't have to show it to anyone, right? The thing is, if you want to be a writer, you're going to have to accept rejection. Don't take it personally. Remember that you are not your work (even though at times, it really does feel that way). It was hard for me to go from being a pretty good writer in high school to being "average" among my peers--after all, everyone in my class was probably the best writer in their high school. I think that's the biggest hurdle to get over as a writer--the rejection. Something I've found encouraging is looking up to see how many times your favorite author has been rejected (seems to help put it in perspective). Honestly, if you have the imagination, drive and--yes--joy to write, then I think that's enough to be a "writer". You do have to be able to see, objectively, if you're "good enough", but like all the arts, it takes patience and practice and the willingness to push through and edit your stuff even when it has been critiqued to shreds. If you don't have the desire to go through with this, then maybe it's more a hobby. But either way, don't give up writing. It can be so rewarding, as you probably know.
Talmay said it best. I like to write but I'm not sure if I love writing myself. If I don't write it out, it never leaves. It just builds and builds and builds until I eventually can't hold it in any longer and toss it all on paper. It doesn't matter how long it takes for me to finish because once I start designing the outline the book is a done deal. It's getting written regardless of time, circumstances, and even weather.
Caution: ramble alert! I 'hate' writing, so you'd think I wouldn't want to be a writer. Not so. It's just that for me I have a story I want to tell, a very long form one. It could equally be done as a series of plays; a TV or radio series; even a set of pictures (maybe graphic novels). Those different forms aren't available to me as I'm not an artist (my drawings would make a five year old cringe!) and I'm not a media producer, so what is left for me is words. I was fairly good at English Language at school (I never bothered with English Literature, it seemed to be all about critiquing classics and not writing anything new so I skipped it) so within me then is perhaps enough knowledge to do reasonably well, and I did write the first two books of the story from that knowledge. But their failure to light any fires in a wider audience told me I wasn't getting things right, so recently I've had to accept that my current ability is not enough to tackle what I have in mind (the sticking of the knife into my ego, with added twist just to make sure my ego is well and truly aware of its weaknesses). That's hammered me back a bit and added to other issues in life generally it has made me wonder if I could ever pick up creating the stories again. Conversely though, combined with one particular issue, it's brought my attention back to bear on the story and getting it told. So here I am on this forum looking for little bits of information that can help 'fix' the problems in my writing, which in turn is slowly building up a head of steam for visiting my story's universe again. As for writing itself, that's something I have to nurture a love of my language for. I believe that's possible, it's just not as innate in me as it is in other authors. The moral of this ramble? There are many things that can happen in our lives that can hurt our belief in ourselves, and that can undermine our confidence and make it appear that we have fallen out with our interests, in this case writing. But that doesn't absolutely mean you don't want to be a writer. When the dust settles, if writing switches on a light bulb somewhere in your brain then you'll be drawn back to it. I do wonder if that's why many of the successful authors tend to be older. They've gotten the vagaries of youth out of the way; they've had their families; they've reached a point in their careers where there is space to think about what shape the rest of their life is going to be, and what they've come back to is the writing they enjoyed reading and doing at school.
Once I had a similar period and i decided to make a pause. In a few weeks, I was willing to write so much, that I literarly дфырув щге ещ цкшештпю
Do you read Everyday because you love to? Do you Always look up the meanings of words you don't know? Do you own an unabridged dictionary? A thesaurus? If you answered yes to at least two of these questions then maybe... but you have to figure you'll never earn a living at it. Write for yourself - because you love reading Some of the stories, or poems You have written. Hopefully, a few of them might send a shiver down your own spine and Make others cry or laugh or even say "holy crap!". It is an awesome power to possess and if that seed is in you, then it would be a shame not to cultivate and nurture it. GL
