Why Your Writing Journey Matters
Recently, my teenage son gave me a great insight into my freelance writing career. He’s taken up the online multiplayer game Minecraft, in which players build vast structures while battling the occasional zombie at night.
“How do you win the game?” I asked him.
He rolled his eyes, the way only teens can.
“There is no winning the game, mom,” he said. “It’s about the experience. It’s all about the journey.”
Well said, Evan. I so often forget this truth. Our careers, our lives, are all about the journey.
In writing, there is no arriving. There’s always the drive to write a better article, blog post, poem, or novel, next time.
Not to get all heavy, but as the Kabbalists say, we never kill time here on Earth. It’s the other way around: Time kills us. And we never know when that’ll happen. The turning of the year brings this unavoidable fact to the front of my mind.
So, knowing that your time is limited, what sights do you want to see on your journey? Where do you want to be sure to go? These are the questions I’m asking myself as I contemplate my plans for next year.
To answer my title question, your writing journey matters because really, the journey is all we have. There is no arrival, except at the grave.
Not a word of what we’ve written will help us then.
But if we’ve written well, what we leave behind will be part of our legacy, hopefully helping others long after we’re gone. I find that thought comforting.
What I find amazing and powerful about being a writer is if you have a goal, you can write your way there. Work hard, polish your writing up, keep sending it out there, and it will take you places.
You could pitch your way to new bylines in magazines, or even to new places on the map. I have a friend who was flown to Denmark to meet with Lego because they liked his writing. I recently read about a woman whose writing got her an assignment in Singapore from Coca-Cola.
Your words can carve a path for you through the desert, the jungle, across oceans, over mountains, and bring you amazing opportunities in as-yet unimagined places.
So here’s to a writing journey for all of us that’s full of breathtaking sights, unexpected turns, wonderful friends, and opportunities to grow and improve our craft.
As we enter the new year, I’m going to strive to remember my writing-career priorities — the places I want to be sure to travel to in 2011. Most of all, I’m going to work on letting go of my feelings of “falling behind” or not being “there” yet, and try to enjoy every moment of my wonderful freelance writer’s life.
Where will your writing journey take you next year? Leave a comment and tell us about your travel plans.
Congratulations to the winner of Monday’s contest for the most interesting marketing strategies of 2010 — Melanie Zoltan, who described how she quadrupled her 2009 earnings. Your free copy of the ‘40 Ways to Market Your Writing‘ audio is on its way.
Photo via Flickr user zatrokz
Wow… you're son is probably one of those enlightened beings we hear about. If online games are teaching this, well, it's priceless.
Thanks for sharing this… still working on my Vision for 2011.
Yeah…when he's awake and emerges from the clutter snowdrifts in his room, Evan can be really amazing.
In regard to the "no arriving" concept, I like author Mark Buchanan's comment in *The Rest of God: Restoring Your Soul by Restoring Sabbath*: "Taskmasters are masters of half-truth. The lie they want you to swallow is that you cannot rest until your work's all done. Rest is not a reward for finishing; it is a stop-work order in the midst of work that's never complete." Elsewhere in the book, Buchanan notes, "Wise people ask, 'If I keep heading this way, will I like where I arrive?' Fools keep making excuses for themselves, justifying and blaming, all the way to nowhere." The whole book, incidentally, is fascinating reading if, like me, one of the biggest resolutions you need to make is to keep working on getting your life in balance.
My recent post Top 10 Articles for Writers — December 2010
My source material for sabbath inspiration is The Sabbath by Abraham Joshua Heschel…no doubt what Buchanan read to write his book.
I don't have trouble taking time away…but struggle with the whole feeling of behinderness and never quite feeling like I've "made it." Who knows what would fill that hole…but I think it's better to realize that the journey is what matters. The destination for all of us is the same.
Congrats on the achievements you have made, Carol!
Hope this year will build on some of the decisions of the past year. Small steps lead to progress on that journey of which you write.
Best in 2011,
Patricia
My recent post LOOKING AHEAD READ CHRISTINE KANE
My journey has just begun. I haven't even been on this trip for a month, and the experience is already exciting and frustrating – usually at the same time. I am finding out that I don't have all the supplies, but fortunately the people I am meeting along the way are helpful and friendly telling me where to find what I need. Others are showing me on a map how to get to some places I hear are worth visiting. A few have urged me to take time and make sure I have my shoes on the right feet – and to be patient with the process. The one truth about taking this journey is that I have made the first step out the door, which is the biggest one that anyone can take – and I haven't looked back.
My recent post The Triple Bottom Line for True Sustainability
Hi all — just left replies for each of you from DH\’s smartphone and system seems to have eaten them all! More later– out w/ kids today.
Loved this post, Carol. A reminder of our mortality is always good for the soul. I've also been reminded of the writing dreams that are gathering dust…time to "reboot" as it were for the coming year. Here's to a new year that profits our souls as well as our families!
Hi Carol – thanks for this reflective post. Like e_g_walker, I just started my journey – and I already feel like I've traveled a million miles.
Every day there's something new to learn, to absorb, and to play with – just like when you're traveling in an unfamiliar place.
I'm a nervous traveler in "real life" – and I feel this way, too, about my freelance journey. Worried. Scared. Pushed out of my comfort zone.
As for where I want to literally travel to? California. Anywhere in California, but San Francisco and Santa Barbara are the two places I yearn to see.
Good luck to everyone traveling down the freelance road…
I went to school in SB…nice place. My real travel dreams are jerusalem and Prague.
Inspiring post, and a departure from what I've been reading on other blogs. The world seems to be focused on success and arriving. It's a shame we need the ringing-in of a new year to remind us to pause and reflect.
Lately I've been trying to find a few moments every day to stop and ask myself why I'm doing what I'm doing, and I find that my answer changes for the better each time I ask. I like thinking about where I'm heading, but I like doing my work, too. I like getting to know people who are inspired by their business and are on a journey of their own. I like writing for and about them. I like agonizing over the language. I even like doing the revisions. And I like getting it right, sometimes.
I've enjoyed getting to know you through your blog and your writing and look forward to more great and helpful things from you in 2011.
Happy New Year,
Jack
My recent post Can We Really Trust Wonder Woman
Great post! I can't say anymore you said it so well and perfectly. Happy New Year!
My recent post The Key to Finding Peace When You Sit Down to Write
Special note to all who have been victims of IntenseDebate's annoying moderation problems. Hopefully this is my last post on the system…supposed to go back to the WordPress default over the weekend. Let's hope for better chatting by Monday!
IntenseDebate has many features I like, including an awesome spam filter, but the inability to let people I've previously approved comment further without moderation has made it unworkable for me. Want to set your comments free…we'll see how it works next week.
Hi Carol,
I have started reading your blog lately, and I like the content. I think it is helpful for budding writers.
I have been writing on the web since 2005, and when I go back now to read those archaic articles, I can see the difference in writing I have today. As you mention, writing is a journey that writers take, although they may not realize the subtle changes taking place in their style.
I have a question for you. If a writer intends to write a book, a full fledged one, let’s say a novel. To get the flair of writing a novel, should he/she read novels by good authors or concentrate on how their thoughts unveil and go with the flow?
Abhinav Kaiser
Hi Abhinav —
Thanks for visiting my blog!
I'm not a novelist…but I'd say I've never met a novelist who doesn't read like mad. Guess my answer would be "both" — I think everyone studies great writers, whether consciously or not. But ultimately, when you sit down to write, it's about creating something unique, that only you could have written.
"There is no winning the game, mom,” he said. “It’s about the experience. It’s all about the journey.”
So true and it can be a real challenge, balancing the journey and the desire for personal growth with the need to pay the rent!
Light, Love and Peace,
Nic
Early in the new year, my writing journey is going to get tougher. I've had a wordpress blog for over a year. It has been a good start to see if I could keep blogging with writing as my subject. In January, I'm starting a new blog about motivation, personal development and how we create our reality. I can write a motivation or personal development article every day, no problem. The challenge will be writing about how we change our world through our interpretations of it and our actions based on those interpretations. The foundations of change come from philosophy but I will need to write for real people, not academics. Various forms of entrepreneurship will need to tie into my work. As if that won't be enough of a challenge, I will be writing all of my own code.
It really is a journey with no end in site. I have a 33,000 word manuscript in progress which may become an ebook and I can already see that expanding on the ideas in that work will lead to many articles and more work to be done. The more I write, the more I see needs to be written. It's an adventure all right.
My recent post Fourteen Ways to Create Multiple Articles on a Topic
If you've got 33,000 words, I say put that ebook out already! If I had it to do over again I would have kept my first one shorter and put it out as 3 separate ebooks instead of one big one. More launches to get people excited about, and more ways to package and promote them that way.
Writing my own code…ain't gonna happen. I am barely functional in the usability and design side…as those who've wrestled with my comment system can tell you! But I just keep looking for affordable help, and learning to do things myself as I can, and keep on swimming…
Best of luck with your '11 journey —
Carol
Hi Carol,
You have an amazing son! Ahh, the things children learn these days…
But yes, we are always on a journey towards something and for 2011, may this journey of mine as well as yours and the rest of the bloggers who made comments in this post of yours, arrive in its destination of success.
Cheers in the New Year!
Great message for the new year! My writing goals include the simple words "Just Do It." If I just plug along at my first novel, at my daily blog posts, and at my articles, at the end of 2011 I'll have a collection of work that will be a reflection of my growth. Here's to writing success!
My recent post Happy New Year!
This was a really inspiring post, Carol. I’ve only recently discovered your blog and am looking forward to reading more. I sometimes feel frustrated and discouraged with the humility of being a beginner yet the urge to write is so strong I can no longer not write. 2011 is my year of fearlessness. My blog posts won’t be the best to begin with, yet thanks to your encouraging words, I know they’ll get better and better.
Just remember that round about 2 years ago, I was just having the dim thought, “Maybe I should have a blog.” You can come a long way pretty fast in our wonderful new media world!