In It for the Long Haul

If I were to dig back through the archives of blogs I've written, I'm sure I'd find at least one addressing why writers write. But the subject came to mind this past weekend as I watched a couple movies based on novels. It got me thinking about how truly amazing the human imagination can be. And it got me contemplating why I write.

You see, the more I write, the more I want to write but I can also feel my mindset changing. When I started writing, it was a challenge to see if I could finish a book and do something I'd always dreamed of doing. Now I am writing pretty much every day (still not full time). It's no longer a question of whether I am going to write each day, but more of a question of what I'm going to work on each day. Kind of like brushing your teeth, you just do it. In addition to this, I find myself beginning to contemplate the extras that go along with writing as a profession. The social networking, the website, the advertising (trailers, banners, etc.) and of course the continuous writing and submitting of manuscripts to keep the process alive.

As a writer starting off the thought of all this is overwhelming and I have to admit it doesn't get any easier, at least not after 2-3 years. It gives me a moment's twinge of jealousy that amazing authors like Dickens and Austen didn't have to worry about a twitter account. Then again, they also couldn't find information on anything with a few button clicks so I probably shouldn't be whining.

Either way, despite the concerns of keeping up with today's world and building a career out of writing, I have to admit I'm in it for the long haul. The requirements are daunting but quite simply, I love writing and sharing my work too much to give up on the rest of it. So twittering, craft-improving, facebooking (I know I made that word up), and all the rest of it, here I come!

 

Filed under: Toni Kelly, Writer's Life, Writing Topics