Work or Hobby?

Do you treat writing as a job or hobby.  That makes all the difference in the world.  My will to write ebbs and flows like the tides at a beach.  I go through periods of time where I write every waking moment.  I cannot walk away from by chromebook, and if I do then I think about what I will write when I return to it.  Then there are other times when I avoid it like the plague.  I make every excuse I can so as to not write.  Unfortunately the I do not feel like writing periods far outweigh the I want to write periods.  Why is that?

Well I have been thinking about this and I think I have an answer.  At least an answer that pertains to me.  I think it’s something that a lot of people can identify with.  To me writing is a hobby.  What does that mean?  Well to me a hobby is something you want to do.  Something I do in my spare time.  Something I do to both relax and to spend some of my valuable time on.

Once I start to treat it as a job I no longer look at it the same way.  Now I am not so relaxed.  Its a job I have to do it well.  I have to produce something.  

See what I mean?  It makes a difference, work or hobby.  How you treat your writing as well as your personality will make the difference.  I spend 7-10 hours a day, five days a week at my day job.  It takes on average 1 ½ hours to drive home from my job.  By the time I have dinner and help my wife clean up its always at least 8:00 every evening.  That does not leave me much time for a second job or a hobby.

Well that's my problem and I’m sure its a problem for countless others.  How you handle will differ but it has to be handled if you are to succeed.  I choose to still consider writing a hobby.  In that way I will produce maybe not as much as some others but at least I will enjoy what I am doing.  Maybe as time goes on I will change how I think, but for now I choose to call this my hobby.

Practice Makes Perfect

I think I have discovered a trait that all great (or even good) writers must have.  Now I have NOT done any exhaustive studies or surveys  to discover this thing.  I am basing it solely on personal observation and experience.  Now I know that this is a small study group, and the margin of error could be 100%!  But I think once I reveal it and explain my reasoning you will all agree.

OK, are  you ready?  What I have discovered is Discipline.  That's right discipline.  Think about it, without discipline nothing would get done.  What separates those that DO from those that DON’T?  Its certainly not talent because there's a lot of crap produced in the world.  And some of it is actually sold very successfully.

Discipline is a key ingredient to becoming both a better writer as well as a more successful writer.  No matter how good your command of the English Language is you can always get better.  “Practice makes perfect”, really is a proverb with a lot going for it.  You can only get better if you practice your craft.  Writing is a craft.  Its not just having a command of the language.  It includes the ability to be a Storyteller.  Storytelling is both a Skill and an Art and like a muscle the more you use it the stronger it will get.

Having the discipline to sit down and spend X number of hours writing each week will make you improve both as a writer and as a storyteller.  For me the development of discipline has been very difficult.  Yeah, sure I can do it for a short time, 3-4 weeks and then it gets cast to the wayside as excuses come in.  This needs to get done, this is more important, I will make up the time tomorrow, etc, etc, etc.  After a while the excuses come easier and the guilty feelings vanish that much quicker.

Discipline, certainly not my strong point.  And I am sure many of you have the same problems.  There are some that are so regimented and disciplined that they can turn out tons of work.  I really envy them!  Well I have to end this now, I have to go take the garbage out……

Keep writing