So, the question asked for this month’s Insecure Writer’s Support Group post is:
In terms of your writing career, where do you see yourself five years from now, and what’s your plan to get there?
The problem with this question is that I don’t have a “writing career” and I don’t actually plan to have one at this point in my life. (There were earlier days — not even that far back — when I still did, but those days are gone.) I can’t really call my writing a “hobby” either, though. It’s more like…a lifeline. No, not even that. It’s a calling — it’s something I have to do to maintain my thin grasp on sanity. I do it for fun, and to get the stories out of my head so they won’t just stagnate there, piling up and colliding with new ones and old ones.
So five years from now, I figure it’ll be the same. I’ll be writing whatever takes my fancy. If it’s fanfic, I’ll probably be posting it to AO3, and if it’s original, it’ll be moldering on my hard drive for all eternity like all the rest. Maybe if it’s super-good, I might show it to someone I know personally, but probably not. Even the stuff of mine that I feel is “good” really isn’t.
The good thing about a plan like this is that I don’t have to do anything different to achieve it. It’s stagnation, yes, but…where I am right now, I don’t really need to change. Not in terms of my writing, at least. (In terms of other things, yeah, I need to change pronto.) Admittedly, I’d like it if my writing skills could improve a bit, but I don’t think it’s possible to improve the things that most need improving: my descriptions can’t improve because I don’t think visually and literally can’t describe things in any detail, and the romances in my writing can’t improve because I’m asexual/aromantic and have absolutely zero idea of how those things actually work out. (Which makes it a problem that I keep wanting to write about people in love. At least my quasi-YA series avoided that by having an asexual heroine…)
If you’re content with how things are with you’re writing, then more power to you!
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Hobby writing and doing as you want is just as important in a personal way as career writing. You don’t have to be like everyone else—Just be yourself and if that is what feels right then it is right. I wrote fanfic for years before I decided to start being serious. Sometimes I miss those carefree days and you the easy joy that it gave me. Now I put pressure on myself, but this is what I want now. Kudos for doing what is right for you.
Juneta @ Writer’s Gambit
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