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Friday, January 17, 2014

Nothing worth having comes easy

I read an author post about failure this week. And it got me thinking about my career, my dreaded day job at Wonderland and why I stay up way past my bed time to tell a story.

Because I love it. Do I wish I was writing full time? Yes!
There is nothing worse than going to a job where people don't read,  don't have common sense and don't have a clue why I need to get the hell away from them for an hour at lunch.

Writing is a solitary job and I love it more than having to deal with idiots. I feel like Scar from the Lion King on a daily basis.

So, I write. I pray. I drink lots of wine and coffee. And I write someone more. I write at work, after work, during morning meetings.

Thinking back to my first novel, the one I self published without knowing the first thing about the industry, I thought I'd have a movie deal and millions by now.

Then, I started rewriting said book and realized how blessed I am. Blessed that people gave me a second chance. Whew! That book sucked. It has potential, but there were gaping holes in the story and the editing -- nonexistent.
One thing that made me laugh in the rewriting of this project was the fact that I had a character wearing boots in May --- in Atlanta! What in the blue hell was I thinking?

The best lessons are the ones that knock you flat on your ass. A day is going to come when I step out on faith and kiss Wonderland goodbye or they fire me because I'm going high five one of my coworkers in the face, and I'm going to have the real career that I want.
 If you're in the area, come through and check out some amazing authors:
Meet the African American Authors! at Southeast Regional Library
January 19, 2014
2:00 PM - 4:00 PM
http://www.wakegov.com/libraries/Pages/default.aspx
Come out to the library and meet local African American authors Sharon Ewell Foster, Cheris Hodges, Deborah Fletcher Mello, Jason Mott and Leceila Turnage. They will discuss the different types of African American fiction, their characters, writing styles, and more. Q & A to follow, registration requested.

1 comment:

  1. Love the perseverance you've shown. I've really been slacking on my writing the past few months. It's encouraging to hear from other writers who manage to keep writing despite day jobs,etc. I definitely need to turn it up a notch, or ten. Thanks for sharing!

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