Found ‘On Writing as Career‘ at Miss Snark’s First Victim and reminded me of what I’m trying to achieve. This was my response in the comments section:
“When you’re starting out, it’s sometimes hard enough to convince yourself because you are not earning any money from it yet.
And when people ask you when is it going to be finished – people with 9-5 jobs – and you’ve written over 100,000, you still tell the truth: ‘I don’t know’ – it’s hard to make it all seem significant.
For instance today – I love my family but because I’m not being paid and stuck in an office – it’s me who becomes chauffeur etc doing errands that others can’t do because they’re ‘working’ and there goes 6 hours of your day.
I did have my daily word quota and I did have a routine. And recently I realized that every time you relax on the two – people around you, who you love, thinks it’s okay to be relaxed about your schedule too.
So I’m going back to my routine and my daily word quota as of tomorrow.
Thanks for reminding me that my career is just as important – paid or not.”
Straight after, I read ‘I am just starting out and have never been published. What should I put in my bio?‘ from Ask a Literary Agent where Noah Lukeman answered writers’ questions. Below is my comment to Luke’s post:
“I didn’t realize until after reading your post how much writers have to try to promote their work and themselves before contacting an agent.
You see, though I want to write novels, I’ve never had the desire to be a journalist or to write magazine articles. I have written short stories before but they were just for fun. Even my poetry I don’t take seriously and was always for personal enjoyment.
That’s why it wouldn’t occur to me to try and get something published in a literary magazine. I do want to get my novels published if it means I can write full time.
The only thing I could put down in my bio is the fact that I did a literary degree. There was a creative writing component taught by author Blake Morrison. Even then I’m not sure if this would constitute as something worth pointing out in a query letter.
Your post made me think.
It reminded me of what I had to do to get my first acting agent. Like with the writing, when it came to the acting, I knew nothing and knew no one in the industry. But sometimes knowing nothing about an industry, gives you the foolish courage to pursue it. I didn’t go to drama school or could afford to when I looked into it. What I did was I got out there and spoke to anyone who would speak to me about their passion for film. I acted in short films back to back and got a showreel from that. I had gone as far as I could without an agent. By the time I tried looking for one – I had a website, a showreel and some acting credits.
Now, from your post, I’m beginning to think I may have to try and get something published no matter how small.
But why dabble or force myself to write short stories when it’s not what I want to write? Like with acting, theatre acting was something I wasn’t keen on so I concentrated on screen acting. I just want to write novels.
Thanks for making me think.”
How far do I have to go to get an agent? Is writing a novel the best I can not enough? I know Luke said that if you don’t have anything substantial to write in your bio that it’s better to leave it out. That may be my only option.
It is hard enough to focus on getting one novel written without worrying about getting a short story or a piece of separate prose published in a magazine. Concentrate on one bird or you could lose two. I will finish the novel and see if it gets me an agent. If it doesn’t, I’ll polish and think of another way.
I was lucky with my acting, getting my first agent after seeing just one other. And that’s because he had faith in me and signed me there and then. His enthusiasm created passion and enthusiasm in me. For anyone interested, my acting showreel can be found at my website www.mayechoo.co.uk. To view the showreel, you’ll need Quicktime. Otherwise, it’s on Youtube.
Getting into acting was an accident. I was asked to write a short screenplay which ended with me producing and directing it without knowing anything about filmmaking. What I learnt I learnt from talking to people who were passionate about filmmaking and reading anything I could get my hands on. From that, I got curious about the actors so I joined a method acting class for a few months pretending to be an actor. I enjoyed it so much I decided I wanted to act.
Writing is no accident. I’ve always wanted to write from an early age. English teachers would enter my writing into competitions. Then life took over and I never could muster up the needed self-discipline to even start. It’s only now that I’m older that I feel I can make it happen. It’s now or never. You’ve got to try, right? And that’s all I can ask of myself. To try.
“Set a goal to achieve something that is so big, so exhilarating that it excites you and scares you at the same time. It must be a goal that is so appealing, so much in line with your spiritual core that you can’t get it out of your mind. If you do not get chills when you set a goal, you’re not setting big enough goals.” Bob Proctor – Author and Speaker
STATUS: Sleep came to play. Feeling much better thanks. Listening to James Morrison’s ‘Undiscovered’.
