What Are You Willing To Sacrifice?

While emailing a published author a few days ago she asked how much would I be willing to sacrifice to get published, because, truth is, you DO have to sacrifice something, and you don't get to know what it is ahead of time. So....I thought about it and realized that writing is more important to me than even I originally thought. My dream is worth it to me to take risks, even if it means writing four or five books a year to keep my head above water...I'll be doing what I love, and that is what matters to me.

But that isn't even all of it. Not only do most Novelists worry about money and spend pretty much every waking minute at the computer...they still have to worry about their project getting rejected. Or about their novel doing so badly they have to switch to a different publisher...

And even though I know all of this I STILL want to do this for a living. Writing is my life and I know it would be more fulfilling if I could write full-time.

So my question to you is this: How much are you willing to sacrifice for your dream? Maybe you'll find, like me, it is worth more to you than you thought possible. Maybe it will give you the strength to keep going.

Now I must go spend time with my hubby. Then its back to plotting my project.

I Found One Of The Problems In My Story

It took awhile, but it just hit me a minute ago: some of the scenes I've written don't move my story forward, don't bring any interesting conflicts or change...or are just plain boring. Now. This is normal for a first draft, but it was taking me in the wrong direction...which means I would have had to start all over again if I had not caught this. So I haven't been continuing my writing. Instead, I'm looking through my planned scenes trying to add new ones and see which ones need to go or just need to be fixed. This may take some time.

Something that might work for you: I did a timed writing asking myself what was I doing wrong, what I needed to change, ect and I came up with quite a few new scenes that way. It also gave me ideas I had not even thought about before. I have heard about timed writing before, but I never really thought it would work. But I was desperate and I tried it. And it did wonders for me.

The only worry going through my head at the moment is I won't finish this book by the deadline I gave myself. But, considering what I'm going through at the moment, I think I'll manage.

Do You Read While You Write?

Not sure if any of you who read this are writers, but I thought I'd ask anyway. Many published writers I have read about say that when they are in the middle of a project they don't read fiction. And for good reason. Writers tend to be a bit like sponges. They can lose their voice while getting lost in another persons.

I find that to be the case with me.It's very hard for me not to take on the style of the book I'm reading if I'm also writing, especially if the book is amazing. So I have learned that, for me, I should stay away from fiction as much as possible when I'm in the middle of a project.

But for others, they don't have a problem reading while writing. In fact, they can find it to be an experience that lifts them up and keeps them excited about writing without affecting the way they write.

So. Do you read when you write? Do you think it's harmful? Does it even matter? I'd love to see what people think about this.

Story Update

The walls have finally come up. Now I need to stop and figure out what is going on so I can get back on the right track. But, I have an idea what my problem is. Mainly....my plot cards kinda suck. This is the first time I have used this technique, so I'm trying to cut myself some slack, but I know that is what it is. My conflicts don't matter to me, the twists, I feel, are too easily seen. So. I won't rework these plot cards but I will focus on making the middle matter.

I am already starting to dread the revision, and I just started! I know it's a pretty common fear, but I can't stop worrying. I'm driving myself crazy really.

Ok. Back to dealing with new plot cards. Hopefully I'll be working on my story again soon.