Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Balance

I've decided that a steady income isn't the only reason to keep my day job.

Learning to write is profoundly humbling, and while humility is essential to the learning process, it's also crippling if not balanced with hubris.  Hubris is not too strong a word -- only a tiny fraction of aspiring novelists ever finish their first book, let alone get published, let alone make a living at it.  Knowing this, a writer doesn't stand a chance of finishing without monumental confidence in her project and herself.

So.  As long as I spend my nights abasing myself in the writing novitiate, I need to spend my days as the deft expert, replenishing my well of chutzbah.

2 comments:

  1. Very interesting; I can see how that would work to keep your enthusiasm up. You're right that confidence is necessary.

    I find I write more on days when I have to go to work than on my days off, but I put that down to having a limited amount of time on work-days. My natural laziness take advantage of the lack of deadline on days off.

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  2. You're on to something there, Jen! On work days, my attitude is, "write now while I have time." On days off, my attitude is, "I'll get to it after my nap."

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