Writing Writers

Writing is hard work. I know I make it look easy (what?), but it sooo is not. Writing takes so much more than getting an idea and putting it on paper. Actually, that's the easy part (which, quite frankly, isn't all that easy). The hard part is making it worth reading. Crafting it into something someone else is willing to plunk down money for and eat up valuable time with. Writing is so ugh and umph and grr and sigh and mmm and aha! It's like ripping a tree, roots and all, from your head and planting it on paper. Here! It's tiring and exhilarating. Writing sucks. And its satisfying. It's creation. And it's mind numbing drudgery. Writing is refuge and a whole lot of work.

I'm thinking a lot about writing these days and the writing process because I'm actually doing it again. I finished writing text for a kid's picture book and sent it to a friend/illustrator to see if she can do anything with it. I'm sick and tired of a screenplay I finished and have been tweaking for about four months now. And I've recently picked up a romance novel that I stuck in a drawer about two years ago and actually want to know how it ends. I'm working on it. We'll see. Weirdly, all around me all my writer friends seem to be writing, too. One of my friends has been tinkering with a children's book series idea that she has. Two more friends decided to take the month of August out and write separate 50,000 word novels. Another two friends were waiting to hear from their agent if their YA book was picked up by a publisher while they started on a gimmicky etiquette book. Another friend is in the process of "researching" her self-help travelogue. My brother fired up his blog again. Seems the end of summer is a good time to write.

The thing is, when a writer writes something there is an expectation. In fact, I'm a little nervous about posting this blog mentioning the kid's book, the screenplay, and the novel because inevitably people expect me to do something with my writing. And then I start hedging. "When is that kid's books coming out?" Umm, well, it wasn't a freelance assignment, it's just something I kinda just wrote, for fun, maybe. I don't know. The illustrator has it now and it's, you know, no rush, it was just for fun, kinda. "Is that screenplay finished yet?" Ah, actually, I mean, I'm done with the latest draft which is kinda, like, the first completed draft, but it's not really finished because now I've got to tweak it because, you know, I see the holes in the plotting, and, well, it's not done-done. It's sorta, kinda-done, maybe. "I can't wait to read your romance novel!" Oh, well, you know, it's going to be awhile, probably, because, it's, umm, I mean, I'm working on it. But I'm not finished. I'm about 100 pages in, I think. Maybe less. Or more. I don't know. It might be awhile yet, so...

Luckily for me, most of my friends are writers so they get it. And they know better than to ask. Because sometimes a piece could be finished without being finished. And it can be finished-finished but not ready for consumption. Or sometimes you're just finished with it but it's not finished at all. Writing is this weirdly personal push-pull. It's intimate. And it's public. You sit in a room all by yourself creating an entire universe, people it with characters who spring from the well of your subconscious. It's like being God! It's fun! I mean, it's work, but it's fun work. (Sorta. I'm thinking God would say the same thing. "It's fun, but, man, is it work!") But then, if you are to be a real god -- I mean, writer -- you're going to have to share it with someone. At which point, you get to hear how brilliant or crappy you are from people who supposedly love you and call you friend. Or daughter. Or client. If you're lucky, someone wants to give you money for your creation, and then you get to read how brilliant or crappy you are from people who are perfect strangers and have no emotional stake in you as an individual so who cares if they crush your soul, you shouldn't be writing anyway, you hack! Or maybe not. Quite frankly, it's terrifying.

But. I love it and, therefore, I'll take my lumps. No matter how lumpy I get. So, if you're a writer who is currently writing, I feel ya, buddy. Keep at it. And if you know a writer who is writing, well, just be kind and wait for it to come out in paperback before you ask to read it. It's for the best.