Last night I saw the ugliest basketball game I’ve seen in awhile. The turnovers, missed freethrows and second and third shot opportunities from both teams were unbelievably bad. Sometimes writing is like that.
Our characters misbehave, refusing to follow the script. We’re not motivated to write. Our minds are elsewhere. We’d rather be checking email or Facebook. Even our bodies rebel. Our lower backs ache and we’re hungry. Again.
But we have to push through. Make adjustments. Refocus. Call on the support of friends. Play through the “pain.” Do what it takes to get the win.
Writing isn’t always pretty. It’s hard work. You have to get your hands dirty. Occasionally you walk away with a bloody nose or a black eye. And in the back of your mind there is the nagging fear that all the hard work and sacrifices might not ever pay off. But if we put our heads down and grind it out we can make it through. We finish a page, then a chapter and eventually make it to the end of the book.
A win is a win. Even if the process that gets us there is ugly. A completed manuscript, a finished article, a first contract. From a writer’s perspective, there are few things more beautiful than that.
Roxanne Ravenel (263 Posts)Roxanne is a freelance journalist and novelist living in North Carolina. Her alter ego, Reese Ryan, writes smart, spicy fiction populated by deliciously flawed, multicultural characters living in the Midwest and Southeast. Her debut novel, TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE, will be published by Carina Press July 22, 2013. She is Managing Editor of the long-running e-zine, All Things Girl.
Roxanne Ravenel (263 Posts)Roxanne is a freelance journalist and novelist living in North Carolina. Her alter ego, Reese Ryan, writes smart, spicy fiction populated by deliciously flawed, multicultural characters living in the Midwest and Southeast. Her debut novel, TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE, will be published by Carina Press July 22, 2013. She is Managing Editor of the long-running e-zine, All Things Girl.
)
Well said, Roxanne. I agree with you whole heartedly. No one knows a writer’s pain, except another writer. Yet, we still press on. And like you said, a win is a win—even if the process that gets us there is ugly. Great post. I can totally relate.