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Originally Posted by Joely  This is actually quite interesting, because it relates to something I've been struggling with for some time. I've always loved writing, doing writing, creating worlds, but I grew up being told I could never get a publishing deal, no matter how good I was. It was like the law of gravity. By the time I was 18 and off to university, I gave up to pursue a career as an academic. I really worked hard to get rid of my love of writing, and went to the opposite extreme of becoming severely depressed if anybody told me my work was good.
Yet for some reason, it refused to leave me. It's almost as though as much as I tried to run away and hide from it, it was still jumping into my life and things kept coming along that would push me back into writing. I'd have thought anybody as riddled with self-doubt and the total conviction I could never be published would have completely blocked everything. Instead, people have arrived in my life with an absolute conviction in what I've been doing and have taken over the process of getting me published, circumventing my own negative beliefs and doubt. I've seen a lot of people say you really can't get anywhere with this much negativity towards it, and yet I've had so much help thrown my way I've been consistently amazed by the assistance I've had.
I have no real explanation for this, but I just thought I'd throw it out there. |
This is so cool. I was going to immediately answer that maybe it has to do with this, fundamentally: your statement "I've always loved writing, doing writing." I was going to say, "It's part of who you are. No matter how much other people have tried to convince you that you can't be successful with it, no matter how much you tried to run from it, you can't get away from it, because it is part of the essence of your being."
Then I thought, well, maybe I should think a little further and not just immediately answer. I'm kicking back and taking a break from work, so I clicked on your website link, which I haven't looked at in a month or two. And there it is, right there, you already said it just a couple days ago!
I’ve never had any doubt about writing and it has been a key feature of my life, as has the business of inventing worlds about which to write. I think this is why I can never answer the question ‘Why do you write?’ because I’ve never considered not writing as a possibility, although I never until recently considered that I could seriously make a career out of it. It’s something very essential, more than just work, something that I consider precious and thrilling and an essential part of who I am.