Whip it good ...

I have been head down, posterior up recently slaving over a hot rewrite and must give thanks to Maureen Crisp (yet again) for alerting me to this fab blog post by Kristine Katherine Rusch on the approach that writing is a profession. I haven't spent as much time wittering around the intramawebb as I would like and I have been missing some good advice and fascinating insights. I am still working on the ms, in a seemingly never ending loop of rewritery. But this post resonates for me particularly at the moment. I am a lazy individual, but I have been racking up the hours on this book. And the bottom line is, if you are serious about being a writer you have to do the work. Good workers work hard at their jobs. I have had moments when I have told myself it is too hard and I can't do it, but then I have to slap myself and tell myself to buck up my ideas and work a little harder. If you don't whip that talent into shape and drive it with a cattle prod you are less likely to survive long term.

What interested me most about Ms Rusch's post though was the belief writers are indoctrinated with (and yes, I am guilty of perpetuating this) that we are unlikely to make a living as a writer. We believe we are unlikely to succeed. Whether we succeed/make money or not, telling ourselves we won't is not a smart attitude. There are other beliefs about my writing and the writing business as a whole that I have and I continue to hold these to be true. Most centre on what it is I want to write and what it is I think I can write. But I need to remind myself this isn't a hobby, its my job and if I'm smart about it maybe I can do better at it and reap some more benefits.