Archive for April, 2005

Posted on April 29, 2005 - by MG

On Writing

The idea of actually getting a material reward for something I enjoy doing so much seems increasingly fantastic. Yet, the money to be earned is a necessary driver, since in many ways it’s a measure of a story’s success. If a story is good and well-written, it will engage and entertain. And it will earn.

Well hey, that’s what I tell myself to stay motivated!

However, in the months I’ve been trying to behave as a full-time writer, i.e. writing, editing or researching almost daily, I’ve discovered some surprising things. And they’ve been kind of delightful.

1. Writing novels is fun, and technically challenging enough to be seriously entertaining to me.
2. Writing a screenplay is likely to be even more technically difficult, just mastering the craft will be a task of itself.
3. I don’t find it hard to face the blank page. I thought I would, but I don’t. Maybe it’s because I haven’t made any money from it yet. So, it’s just pure learning and entertainment. Or maybe it’s because I didn’t let myself write anything fun all these years. (I wrote about science and the information industry, but that wasn’t much fun.)
4. My respect for successful storytellers has always been high. But I fell into the snobbery of thinking that literary talent was more worthy. I’m changing my mind about that. It’s all about story.
5. Since I was a little kid, I knew someday I’d do this. Unusually for me, I didn’t even formulate a plan. I just knew, one day, I’d be ready, somehow. Well, this is the time.

I’m truly blessed that I have the circumstances which allow me to do this.