Writing...the Career Bane for Control Freaks
It's no secret in my family that I'm something of a control freak. I've been working on it for what seems like my whole life. But like the old adage, "Don't pray for patience or you're going to get opportunities to be patient," seeking to be less in control leads to the same thing.
You'd think writing would be the ideal career for a control freak like me, right? After all, I get to create my own worlds and populate them with my characters who do what I want...if you're a writer, you're laughing already. About the only thing true in that statement is that I get to create the world and well write it...but even my fictional world is subject to limits - be they historical fact, fantasy convention or simply that my characters refuse to inhabit a world of a certain point.
Right...fictional characters...more willful than my extremely stubborn children and their equally stubborn parents. Characters do what they want and it's not so easy to change their course when an editor asks for revisions. You'd think it would be, it's your book after all. But you'd be wrong. I've learned that when the characters won't change, I have to up my game as a writer - come up with better motivation for actions, flesh out the setting and background to make the world they insist on inhabiting make sense.
While recalcitrant characters are one of the biggest challenges to a writer's control freak tendencies, they are by no means alone.
Consider the muse, or imagination, or inspiration, or whatever else you want to call that thing in a writer's brain from which stories spring. It's the most fickle, inconsistent, annoying thing ever.
No, seriously. As a writer for three publishers (sometimes four), I have serious deadlines and the longer I write, the harder they are to meet sometimes. Because I don't get to write what I want when I want, it can make the process of creating the book a heck of a lot more painful than it was before time-lines dictated when I worked on certain character's stories.
My editors have been supremely patient with me this last couple of years because of dealing with my mom's final health issue and subsequent death. I can't tell you how grateful I am, but even with their understanding, sometimes my characters just kick my controlling butt.
I kid you not.
And that's just the creative side of writing...let's not get into the business, where undecipherable whim controls publisher support, book sales, reader reaction and the next contract's terms.
All-in-all, I couldn't have picked a career more guaranteed to beat back the control freak in me than that of being a writer.
It's your turn: if you could do/be anything in the world, what would you do for a career/lifestyle?
I'll be honest, no matter how hard, there is nothing I can imagine more rewarding or challenging (which I *need*) than writing. I love my job.
Hugs and happy reading,Lucy
P.S. You might have seen in the sidebar, but I'm down 11 pounds - just over 10% to goal. I'm SO happy about it and I'm loving the whole process so far. :)
http://www.lucymonroe.com/
http://www.facebook.com/LucyMonroe.Romance
http://twitter.com/#!/lucymonroe
You'd think writing would be the ideal career for a control freak like me, right? After all, I get to create my own worlds and populate them with my characters who do what I want...if you're a writer, you're laughing already. About the only thing true in that statement is that I get to create the world and well write it...but even my fictional world is subject to limits - be they historical fact, fantasy convention or simply that my characters refuse to inhabit a world of a certain point.
Right...fictional characters...more willful than my extremely stubborn children and their equally stubborn parents. Characters do what they want and it's not so easy to change their course when an editor asks for revisions. You'd think it would be, it's your book after all. But you'd be wrong. I've learned that when the characters won't change, I have to up my game as a writer - come up with better motivation for actions, flesh out the setting and background to make the world they insist on inhabiting make sense.
While recalcitrant characters are one of the biggest challenges to a writer's control freak tendencies, they are by no means alone.
Consider the muse, or imagination, or inspiration, or whatever else you want to call that thing in a writer's brain from which stories spring. It's the most fickle, inconsistent, annoying thing ever.
No, seriously. As a writer for three publishers (sometimes four), I have serious deadlines and the longer I write, the harder they are to meet sometimes. Because I don't get to write what I want when I want, it can make the process of creating the book a heck of a lot more painful than it was before time-lines dictated when I worked on certain character's stories.
My editors have been supremely patient with me this last couple of years because of dealing with my mom's final health issue and subsequent death. I can't tell you how grateful I am, but even with their understanding, sometimes my characters just kick my controlling butt.I kid you not.
And that's just the creative side of writing...let's not get into the business, where undecipherable whim controls publisher support, book sales, reader reaction and the next contract's terms.
All-in-all, I couldn't have picked a career more guaranteed to beat back the control freak in me than that of being a writer.
It's your turn: if you could do/be anything in the world, what would you do for a career/lifestyle?
I'll be honest, no matter how hard, there is nothing I can imagine more rewarding or challenging (which I *need*) than writing. I love my job.
Hugs and happy reading,Lucy
P.S. You might have seen in the sidebar, but I'm down 11 pounds - just over 10% to goal. I'm SO happy about it and I'm loving the whole process so far. :)
http://www.lucymonroe.com/
http://www.facebook.com/LucyMonroe.Romance
http://twitter.com/#!/lucymonroe
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