How can you live with a 'less is more' mentality when everyone assumes that just because you write books, you want to become a bestselling, filthy rich writer? (This question isn't only for non-writers; other writers, too, seem to dwell under this misconception as well.)
I told one of my coworkers that I never wanted my books to be as popular as Harry Potter. That I didn't want the merchandising, the pomp and circumstance, the secrecy. That while it would be nice to see someone else's vision of my books in a movie, say, that if I had to have everything else with it, I'd rather not bother.
When writing starts to become something I have to do instead of something I want to do--just like when the garden becomes something I have to do vs. something I want to do--then something important is lost, there. A piece of soul, for want of a better word. And nine times out of ten, I can tell if a book was written because the writer wanted to write it, or if the writer just was offered too much money to pass it up. (Or if they heard that a specific genre was selling and they needed the money.)
Maybe this has something to do with the rut I've spoken of before; where popular authors say they're going to stop writing about something, but continue, on and on until I lose interest in what they write and move on to someone else. I hope Ms. Rowling doesn't bow to pressure and actually sticks to her guns in ending the HP series; that is proper, after all, and fitting. When something needs to end, then it's time to end.
I have said this before, but I never want to be in the position that I have to write a book or a story to pay my mortgage, bills, or whatever. If that means I have a day job, then so be it. The day job can pay for my mundane life. Nothing can pay for the time I spend writing.
When I am out in my garden, time slips away. I don't check my clock; I don't give myself a certain amount of time to finish whatever it is I'm doing. I just do it, sometimes slowly, but I try my best to do it right so I don't have to go back and do it again. The same thing goes for writing. When I am writing, I am inside the book. I am the characters. I am in the midst of what is happening. Nothing else matters, not money, not fame, not fortune, not the dustbunnies on the stairs. :)
The same goes for everything I do. You can't rush these things. To do them properly, you have to do them right. That's one of the reasons why I stopped making a doll a week to sell. To do them properly, I can't force them to create themselves. I have to take the time and allow them to be created. It's like trying to force tomatoes to ripen, or trees to bloom. It's just not going to work.
It is not the quest for fame or fortune that drives me to tell my stories; it is only that I have written what I want to write and nothing more. Why don't people understand that? What is so strange about thinking this way? Does anyone else think this way, or am I the only one?
Sometimes I really wonder what drives other people, and what I'm missing. Other times, I just shrug and go on with my life, because nothing ever waits when a garden (or a book) is involved.
I told one of my coworkers that I never wanted my books to be as popular as Harry Potter. That I didn't want the merchandising, the pomp and circumstance, the secrecy. That while it would be nice to see someone else's vision of my books in a movie, say, that if I had to have everything else with it, I'd rather not bother.
When writing starts to become something I have to do instead of something I want to do--just like when the garden becomes something I have to do vs. something I want to do--then something important is lost, there. A piece of soul, for want of a better word. And nine times out of ten, I can tell if a book was written because the writer wanted to write it, or if the writer just was offered too much money to pass it up. (Or if they heard that a specific genre was selling and they needed the money.)
Maybe this has something to do with the rut I've spoken of before; where popular authors say they're going to stop writing about something, but continue, on and on until I lose interest in what they write and move on to someone else. I hope Ms. Rowling doesn't bow to pressure and actually sticks to her guns in ending the HP series; that is proper, after all, and fitting. When something needs to end, then it's time to end.
I have said this before, but I never want to be in the position that I have to write a book or a story to pay my mortgage, bills, or whatever. If that means I have a day job, then so be it. The day job can pay for my mundane life. Nothing can pay for the time I spend writing.
When I am out in my garden, time slips away. I don't check my clock; I don't give myself a certain amount of time to finish whatever it is I'm doing. I just do it, sometimes slowly, but I try my best to do it right so I don't have to go back and do it again. The same thing goes for writing. When I am writing, I am inside the book. I am the characters. I am in the midst of what is happening. Nothing else matters, not money, not fame, not fortune, not the dustbunnies on the stairs. :)
The same goes for everything I do. You can't rush these things. To do them properly, you have to do them right. That's one of the reasons why I stopped making a doll a week to sell. To do them properly, I can't force them to create themselves. I have to take the time and allow them to be created. It's like trying to force tomatoes to ripen, or trees to bloom. It's just not going to work.
It is not the quest for fame or fortune that drives me to tell my stories; it is only that I have written what I want to write and nothing more. Why don't people understand that? What is so strange about thinking this way? Does anyone else think this way, or am I the only one?
Sometimes I really wonder what drives other people, and what I'm missing. Other times, I just shrug and go on with my life, because nothing ever waits when a garden (or a book) is involved.
Comments