My A-Z this year is about marketing, writing, and following my heart. It’s been a really hard one to write, this one actually.
Following my heart means that I’m stepping away from lots of projects this year. It means redoubling my focus on the writing that matters to me. It means being ‘more present’ with my family, and less online. It means working my ass off to get to where I want to be, not where others think I should be.
It means letting go of the certainty that we’ll have a baby any time soon, while still keeping the faint hope alive. It’s been searching for a job that’s as fulfilling as freelancing. It’s ignoring all those digging little voices that tell me I’m not worth it, that I must be doing something that I shouldn’t, that there’s no way I could do…there’s no way I should do. It’s following the tiny, teeny voice that’s being shouted down by everything else around me.
LoboStudioHamburg / Pixabay
So, today, I wanted to talk about the freedom to be. And the courage to write what you want.
It’s more than that though…
It’s more than that though – it’s the courage to write what the story demands. What the voices that come to you, with that little voice inside you, the characters, the story, the core of what you want to say.
But, I’ll be honest. I have no quick fix for this. It’s difficult to find the courage to write what you want. Until you remember that little voice. The one that says ‘this is what happened, and this and this…’. The one that says ‘that’s my story and I’m sticking to it’.
Find that voice, follow it. It’s your heart. It’s your story.
D Kai Wilson- Viola is a prolific and often intensely fun writer. Her favorite genres are Sci-Fi, where her Darkness series is set, Fantasy, where she writes up actual play from RPGs she never got to run, urban fantasy, mostly inspired by her bad idea bear (aka her partner, Tempus, and mental health advocacy, as she’s got a raft of diagnoses, none of them particularly pleasant, but none that tend to hold her down for long either
When not writing, and still *thinking* about writing often enough to get caught out, Kai can be found training with her beloved at the Ludosport Academy they belong to, hanging out with family and friends gaming, or enjoying exploring parts of the world they’ve got access to at the time.
A nature and animal lover, Kai is a writer because she has to, because she loves it, and because it’s fun. She is the mother of two cats, two adults and lives in the Cotswolds, UK, with her beloved.
There are many readers who would debate that, unfortunately, and it takes a particular strength not to cave to expectations that have nothing to do with Story and everything to do with staying true to the characters.
I’m not sure how many of those “many readers” are writers though. not that it matters, but my experience is that I get the most pushback when (a) I’ve pulled the punch, literature-wise, or shied away from “that cliff” or b) a writer that would have written it differently.
But I’d rather have people talking anout it I guess 🙂
There are many readers who would debate that, unfortunately, and it takes a particular strength not to cave to expectations that have nothing to do with Story and everything to do with staying true to the characters.
I’m not sure how many of those “many readers” are writers though. not that it matters, but my experience is that I get the most pushback when (a) I’ve pulled the punch, literature-wise, or shied away from “that cliff” or b) a writer that would have written it differently.
But I’d rather have people talking anout it I guess 🙂
Absolutely beautiful.
Absolutely beautiful.
OH MY! I relate to sooooo much of this here.
a) Facing real life and trying to “market” and all of that fighting with the requirement, both internally and externally to create. ARRR. There, got that off my chest.
And then…
Oh I am fighting with a short story right now. Really fighting. Seriously – why won’t it let me tell it? What is the hold up? Why aren’t the characters doing what I tell them? Who’s in charge of this train anyway?!?!
Oh. Sorry. I didn’t mean to yell. I guess I can see you know what I mean. Very best wishes with the words. 🙂
OH MY! I relate to sooooo much of this here.
a) Facing real life and trying to “market” and all of that fighting with the requirement, both internally and externally to create. ARRR. There, got that off my chest.
And then…
Oh I am fighting with a short story right now. Really fighting. Seriously – why won’t it let me tell it? What is the hold up? Why aren’t the characters doing what I tell them? Who’s in charge of this train anyway?!?!
Oh. Sorry. I didn’t mean to yell. I guess I can see you know what I mean. Very best wishes with the words. 🙂