For my second Q&A, I was asked what are the best and worst things for me about being a writer.
BEST: Having someone say they really like your story. As a reader, my greatest pleasure is finding a story I love. So as a writer, my greatest joy is when someone can feel that about what I’ve written.
WORST: Time-consuming. When I write, I can’t wait to see how the story ends. Unfortunately, I have to write it to find out! And then after it’s written comes the editing, which does get easier, but still takes time. If I could just write a story as fast as I can think it… 🙂
For all you writers out there, what are YOUR best and worst things about being a writer?
Great questions. For me the best part of writing my memoir was looking back on my life from an adult’s perspective. I was able to re-evaluate my reactions and emotions connected to life altering events from a completely new point of view. As far as writing in general goes, I love it when I surprise myself by creating a beautiful sentence, the kind where I say “Did I just write that? Did that come from me?” and then I spend the rest of the day repeating the sentence in my head.
What I like the least is finding time to write. That’s been a tough one this month.
For me, as an academic writer, I’d have to say the worst thing is the pressure to write something relevant, new, interesting, topical, and timely. I always worry that it’s inadequate. The best thing is getting feedback from others – how to make this piece better, what someone enjoyed about it… those are great things. At this point, I have a hard time thinking of things as “done,” because the editing process is so much part of the writing process for me.
thanks for responding. my best thing about being a writer is finding a subject i’m passionate about. i’m basically a non-fiction/memoir writer, so my passion is always close to my heart. my worst thing about being a writer is how to get that passion on the page and have it connect to the reader. if the reader can get into what i’m writing about, i believe i’ve done a good job.
Okay, I’m taking some liberties calling myself a writer, but the best part is getting that story out of my head. The worst part is getting lost in space, having that story bounce around in my head for months at a time, but the best part is coming up with a new story. It’s exciting. I get a whole new set of friends and enemies. However, the worst part is finishing the story and losing the world I had come to love for so long.