Are We Having Fun Yet?

Rachelle's blog has become a sort of home-away-from-home for me. A virtual writers' community.

I just threw up a comment on her post:Are We Having Fun Yet?. And then I thought I'd like to copy it onto my blog. But I did things the hard way. I hadn't composed the comment in Word first. So now I had to type it, word for word, into a Word file for posting here. Here it is, warts & all, just raw data--but hopefully without typos.

Writing is the most rewarding thing I can do, and the most challenging. An activity that I'm gifted for, but the most difficult and frustrating and exasperating. And a huge learning curve.

The best part is when something reveals itself that you didn't know. Maybe from research, maybe just from the logic of the characters and their lives. It's fun living in this other world. It's an antidote for depression (not a cure)—having an interesting world to go to as a refuge when your own life seems so drab.

And the really best part is when it flows. And the worst part is when you're stuck—because your life is stuck, or because your story needs percolation time.

And the really worst part (as someone mentioned) is rereading a chapter and thinking that it's all a boring load of garbage. And then you have to ask yourself: Is this me having a bad day? Is this me being insecure? Or is this really not the best or most accurate piece of writing I've ever done.

Enough already. Thanks, Rachelle.

June 4, 2011  6:23 AM (U.S. Eastern Time, I think)