84. Can't you see I'm busy?!

Wednesday, June 29, 2005

Mood: busy

Music: Poster Girl - Backstreet Boys

Busy day already, and the day has just begun. I actually headed in early to bed last night too. I wasn't feeling my absolute best, so I decided laying down and trying to sleep would be the best way to handle that. Then I woke up sick around 6am. I'm feeling fine now, but at 6am I wasn't.The good news though is I wrote some last night. Not a lot, but more than I had written in one sitting all week in Crash into me. Once again Daniel is taking control of the situation. When in my head, Kaelin was supposed to be the more dominant one. Characters can surprise you sometimes. Last night, I also wrote a short wrap-up on MTV's Real World episode that aired last night. I don't know if you can tell by now, but I'm a small reality tv nut. I don't watch the Survivors or Big Brother's, but Real World, Dancing with the Stars, those shows that follow celebrity families or couples? I'm all over those. I'm looking forward to when VH1 starts to air the Hulk Hogan show. Surreal life is also another favorite.

In my blog hopping this morning, I found a link to this in Brenda's blog.

Very few people who don't write for a living understand that writing is work, much less that a writer who is sitting in a chair, reading a book or staring absently into the distance, may be as “busy” as one who is clicking away at his computer.

How true this is. Terry then goes on to talk about how her mother was interrupting her. Brenda also talked about being interrupted by family members. We all have had it happen. You're in the middle of thinking and someone comes up wanting to talk about something. Sometimes your fingers are actually tapping away at the keys, and someone comes up and interrupts. You sigh inwards in frustration, and you try to explain you're busy working, and they don't get it because to them you're just sitting there. You're not all that busy because to most people writing isn't that hard of a job. You sit down. You write. You send it off. You get it published. You make millions of dollars.

If only it were that easy? Some writer's never make millions of dollars. In fact, most don't. Some make enough to live off of, put a roof over their heads and some food in the fridge. Most barely make enough to pay one bill. You start at the bottom and you work your way up the ladder. Just like with any other job. Yesterday, I was talking to my brother, and he said, "You don't make much from your writing do you?" I just stared at him, and I didn't even respond. Because no I really don't, but in time I will. Don't we all hate the "How much do you make question?"

My own family doesn't know the meaning of I'm working or I have to work. If I'm reading, I'm working. If I'm typing away furiously at my screen, I'm working. If I'm sitting here, staring off into outer space good chance I'm not thinking about what I ate for dinner last night, but thinking of what my characters are doing or what I want them to do. That's usually why I write late at night. No interruptions, unless it is the cat asking for attention, but he is just cute enough to get away with it. Some nights he has started this habit of sitting right on my desk and watching the words appear on the screen as I type. One night, I stopped typing to grab something to drink, and I came back to the room to see him sitting on my desk in front of the monitor as if he were reading over what I had just wrote.

People don't get it that writing is one of those jobs is not nine to five. I told a friend of mine the other night, a writer doesn't have weekends. A writer is always working. And its true. Very true. You write when the mood strikes, or you write when you know you have to or else. Writing isn't easy, and the people around you might think you're not doing anything important, but you are. They just don't see it.