They're coming to take me away ... ha ha!

When I first read this topic, I didn’t know what approach I wanted to take with it. (Still don’t have it all worked out). So I am doing a thought exercise where I just write what comes to me. (You might not notice any difference between this and my normal posts). Also, keep in mind classes just started back up for me, so my mind has taken a sabbatical for a while. *smiles*

I’ve come to the conclusion that we (writers) have to be out of our ever-loving minds. Not that we mind, but there it is.

“They're coming to take me away Ha ha … To the funny farm, where life is beautiful all the time.”

Looking at Devon’s list, which overwhelms me just looking at it, and knowing some of the authors that I do, we are all nuts to do this to ourselves. So many writers I know are not lucky enough to have it be their full-time job, so they are working, caring for their families/pets/friends, doing who knows what else, and in what little free time they have, they write.

I am the same way, although I don’t go to the level that some I know do, giving up sleep to stay up and write. Not because I don’t want to, but because I simply can’t – I turn into a completely different person without enough sleep, someone that no one wants to meet in a well lit room, let alone a dark alley. Simply put, I turn into a b*tch. Hello evil twin! So my family has that line that we just don’t cross.

My own insanity lies with the fact that in addition to family and all my other commitments, I am in college. Being a non-traditional student sucks. Trying to be a non-traditional student and write as well? Doesn’t always work out so well. School drains the creativity out of me, except the night before a big exam. Then I am creative as all get out, just brimming with ideas and needing to write.

How does this relate to the topic, you might be wondering at this point? Well … being a writer takes commitment. All too often in interviews we are asked the same questions over, and over, and over, and over (see my drift), and over again (I LOVE the interviews that are different!) and one of the main questions asked – “what advise can you offer to aspiring writers?”

Stick with it …

Don’t give up your dream …

Try, and try, and try again ….

What it all boils down to is commitment. If you want to be a writer, and have at least a modicum of success, you have to understand and be willing to make the commitment.

I truly think outside of marriage, and having children, being a writer is one of the biggest commitments a person could make. And unlike the others, you are making a commitment to more than just one or a few people – you are making it to dozens, potentially hundreds; your editors, readers, cover artists, readers, publisher staff, readers, publicity staff, and hopefully even more readers. All of them are expecting you to be more than a one hit wonder.

It completely boggles the mind just how many people you are saying to “Hey, I’m doing this and I am going to stick with it. You give me a chance and I won’t let you down.”

Yep, we all must be nuts. Especially when you look at characters who “talk to us”, aka we hear voices, and we get lost in our own worlds, or we hallucinate. *smiles* But, the company is good, and really, we get to share the worlds in our minds with anyone who cares to journey to them. Sometimes we even get paid for it!

So the commitment is worth the insanity, which could potentially lead to another form of commitment. *smiles*

Stylish!

And on that note, I leave you with more Dr. Demento:
“They're coming to take me away Hoho hehe haha!
To the funny farm, where life is beautiful all the time,
and I'll be happy to see those nice young men
in their clean white coats
and they're coming to take me away haha!!”