Writing is a truly bizarre profession.
We lock ourselves away for weeks or months or years, with no way of knowing if what we’re working on will ever be worth any of that effort.
One day, we’re sure we’re writing the greatest novel the world has ever seen, and the next, we’re certain we’re wasting our time on a piece of garbage.
That endless roller-coaster ride of highs and lows is, and always will be, my toughest emotional challenge. But here’s the kicker… If I ever lose that nagging sense of self-doubt, I’ll know it’s time to stop writing, because it will mean that I’ve stopped caring.
It’s Amazing How Therapeutic It Is to Pour Your Heart Out to No One in Particular
I deal with it in the same way I deal with all emotional challenges. I put it down in words.
It’s amazing how therapeutic it can be to just pour your heart out to no one in particular. Sometimes, I just write about what has me bothered and immediately delete it. If I think it might help others, I might blog about it.
But in the best cases, I simply dump all of that baggage on the characters in one of my stories and let them deal with it. That way, I get to say what I think and what I feel, and I get to view the problem from all sorts of different angles.
That change in perspective not only takes the sting away, but there’s the added bonus that my words might resonate with someone else. That’s a win-win, baby!
Sitting on My Butt for a Living Isn’t the Healthiest Lifestyle
I found out early on that sitting on my butt for a living isn’t exactly the healthiest lifestyle in the world.
I tend to forget about things like eating and sleeping when I’m on a roll, and given the choice of either going for a run or finishing a chapter, I’ll pick the latter every time.
That adds up to frequent bouts of fatigue and some pretty horrible food choices.
I Love What I Do, So Everything Else Takes a Back Seat
Sadly, I haven’t made any changes yet. It’s rather like having an addiction, but an addiction that I am perfectly content having.
I love every minute of what I do, so everything else has to take a back seat.
Thankfully, I’ve always been in decent shape, so I haven’t felt the effects of a sedentary lifestyle so far, but I’m not sure I’ll change my ways even if and when I do.
There’s every possibility that someone will discover my skeletal, desiccated corpse slumped over the keyboard one day, and my only regret will be that I still had stories left to tell.
Well…. that and the smell.
Nothing Kills Creativity More than Reality
I am at my most creative when I’m free to lose myself completely in my writing.
If I have an entire day with no other commitments, I’ll sit for hours, and the words and ideas flow like magic. For me. nothing kills creativity more than reality. I mean, c’mon. Banking? Laundry? Groceries?
We all have a thousand niggling little things we have to get done to survive, but I have yet to find one person who can be truly creative while scooping out the cat box or cleaning the toilet.
I can certainly get flashes of insight or story ideas doing the mundane, but I’m at my best when I’m allowed to sink back into that other world and let all the noises of life fade into the background.
There is Nothing Anyone Could Say or Do that Would Discourage Me Again
I wrote my first book when I was in my teens, and I sent it around to a few of the big five publishers with images of a best-seller dancing through my head.
They all rejected it, and rightly so, but teenaged-me didn’t take the rejection well. I still wrote after that, but from then on, it was only for me. So clearly, I didn’t get past it. I simply buried it so deep that it took years before I was able to dig myself out.
Looking back, though, I can see that everything had to happen exactly the way it did in order for me to get to where I am today. I had to learn, and grow, and experience as much of this world as possible before I could write about it properly.
And now that I’ve been through all of that negativity, I can honestly say that there is nothing anyone could ever say or do that could possibly discourage me again. Been there, done that.
Now I Can Look Someone in the Eye and Say, “I am a Writer”
As ridiculous as it might sound, my greatest triumph is that I can now call myself a writer.
Yes, I suppose I’ve been a writer all along, but I didn’t feel as if I could make that claim even after I had a book or two under my belt. But somewhere along the way, something changed.
I can’t tell you what changed, or even when it changed, but I can now look someone in the eye and say the words, “I am a writer,” and mean it.
And with that simple pleasure, my lifelong dream has been realized. Everything else is just gravy.
I Could Try to Alter My Style, but I Wouldn’t Be Free to Be Me
I take supreme joy in pouring my guts all over the page, so I need no other motivation. That blank page is the one place where I can drop all pretense and be entirely truthful.
I can say what I want in the way that I want, and the only possible consequence is that someone out there won’t like it.
That is a wonderfully intoxicating world in which to live.
I could try to alter my style, or write books that are a little more mainstream, but I would no longer be in that perfect place. I wouldn’t be free to be me, and all of that joy would almost certainly wither away.
Advice for a Young Writer: Do It
I would simply say, “Do it.” Just that. Do it.
Look, most humans aren’t born knowing how to write a book or sing a song or paint a masterpiece. It takes study, it takes passion, and most of all, it takes trying and failing, over and over and over again.
The only way to get good at anything is by doing it as often as you can and as well as you can. Your first attempts will always be your toughest challenge and your worst result, but don’t be discouraged. There’s nowhere to go from there but up.
So listen to me, all of you aspiring writers and artists out there. You are not aspiring. If you write, you are a writer. If you paint, you are a painter. If you sing, you are a singer. Don’t waste years worrying about whether or not you’re good enough. If you aren’t now, you soon will be. So get on with it. Do it!
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Ken Stark is a horror and dark fiction writer from Vancouver, Canada. He began writing at an early age, but life interfered and he was forced to put his dreams on hold. Flash forward a few decades, and the time finally came for Ken to pursue his passion for real. Now, he wonders why he waited so long.
When he isn’t hunched over a keyboard, you will most often find Ken slapping paint onto an unsuspecting canvas, reading, or making friends with every animal he comes across. And yes, he once gave his lunch to a rat, but in his defense, it did look pretty hungry.
For more information on Ken and his work, please see his website and Amazon author page, or connect with him on Twitter and Facebook.
Arcadia Falls: Something is wrong in Arcadia Falls.
The first boy vanished without a trace and with just as little fanfare. Even the second disappearance amounted to little more than a few passing remarks and another name skipped over in the classroom roll call. As far as Riverside High and the rest of Arcadia Falls were concerned, it seemed, it was as if nothing had happened at all.
Tyler John was no different. He had barely given the matter a second thought, but then a wrong turn sent him on a path straight into the dark heart of the mystery, and the deeper he peered into the shadows, the more he realized that something was looking back.
Now, the hunter has become the hunted and time is running out. With nowhere else to turn, it’s up to Tyler and his handful of friends to stop the evil thing that’s been preying on Arcadia Falls, and if they fail, they might just be the next ones to vanish.
Yes, something is desperately wrong in Arcadia Falls, and it’s like nothing anyone has ever seen before.
Available on Amazon.
Stage 3 Bravo: Hank Mason had nothing left to lose. But then came Mackenzie. And then came Sarah. And then came the others.
Though these seven souls had somehow survived the first days of the epidemic, every minute of life in this new world came at a price. Thrown into a relentless battle against a population turned feral on one side, and desperate men willing to do anything to stay alive on the other, the only question remaining was…
How much were they were willing to pay to survive?
Now, those precious few are in a desperate race to save one more lost soul, and time is running out. The clock started ticking the moment they pulled into that forgotten little corner of a world gone insane.
Every second brings them closer to death. They’ll have to find a way out… or die trying.
Available on Amazon.
Well said!