It comes around every seven days I know. However, some of them are more trying than others. Why is it that we never say ‘thank God it’s Monday’? That sentiment is reserved for Fridays.
When I was in college and early adulthood, I understand that as weekends were for fun and relaxing. “Everybody’s working for the weekend” wasn’t just some song, it was a way of life. Fast forward a few years, and it seems the weekends are just as much work as the week. In fact, there are times that it seems Monday is a day to recover from the weekend. Of course, we know that isn’t exactly the case either.
I am ecstatic that I have the opportunity to work from home. My job allows me to work from home, or from any location where I can get online. My other job as a writer, I also work from home, mostly. The paid gig runs Monday through Friday. The writing gig hasn’t been very lucrative yet. I spent the majority of the weekend writing, there are times when I just have to get it out of my head. Only another writer can truly appreciate that statement.
As I’m reading through the blogs I follow, catching up on Facebook, and reading through my emails, I”m searching for a bit of inspiration. The non-lucrative part has really been getting to me lately. It seems like such an exercise in futility. I start listening to the inner critic, and the voices of so many others , that “I”m just wasting time” and need to get a real job. Some days I feel like it is all sheer and utter nonsense.
Then there are days when my writer friends, and a few adoring fans urge me to continue, pushing me forward, encouraging me. The desire to write sometimes isn’t enough to continue the self-abuse when the newness of the idea wears off. This is when you need the support groups, and self-discipline to follow through.
I’m great with ideas. I can come up with a magical tale, plot it out, have twists and turns, subplots and end with a satisfactory denouement. The problem is for me, once I’ve outlined it and planned out the whole story, I get bored and want to move on to something else. That never gets anything finished, or anything published. It’s also why I have multiple WIPs.
To me, this is the work part of writing. The sheer perseverance to keep at it, plugging away daily when I want to be creating a new story. Have I mentioned that I have enough ideas already to keep myself writing until I’m 94? OK, there’s also another part that is very difficult for me, it’s the isolated existence. I’m a very social creature and this day-to-day thing of being indoors, in the writing cave is more difficult than working in an office job.
In an office job there are people to talk to, to communicate with. My private office gets lonely sometimes. There’s no one I can converse with at the water cooler, no one to blame when the coffee runs out. There’s no juicy office gossip going around, no new intern to study.
The solitude is necessary to tap into the deep pools, but the need for human contact beckons. It drives some writers to drink like Hemingway, or use recreational drugs to take the edge off. I don’t see myself taking up either of those, so I have to cope in other ways.
My drug of choice has been online support groups. I have some amazing awesome friends in these groups. They have given the support, and urged me forward when I needed it most. Nonwriters don’t get that!
check out one of my friend’s blog: Kindred Spirits: The Importance of Fellow Writers
You may see it as playing, but it’s not an easy existence. Whichever part is the most difficult for a writer, there are other like-minded writers in the group that can relate. Sometimes, it’s the only voice amidst a crowd of nonwriting people who question and criticize what we do.
I think that sums it up fairly nicely. As to the Monday motivation? I think I can go back inside my writer’s cave with my dragons again. Write on my friends, write on!
quotidiandose 