Fun And/Or Rewarding?
February 20, 2011
When should you throw in the towel? When should you say, "I've had enough beating my head at this door. I'm done."
I don't have an answer for you.
I do think there comes a point where you ask yourself, "Am I having fun?"
The answer does not always have to be yes. Writing, like almost any difficult activity, is not always going to be fun. Sometimes it's work.
Hopefully rewarding work.
Which brings up the question: What is "rewarding" for you?
Rewarding can mean emotionally satisfying.
Rewarding can mean financially satisfying.
Rewarding can mean creatively fulfilling, and if you can somehow parse the difference between "emotionally satisfying" go ahead and share it with me. I do, but it's too complicated for me today.
What happens when your answer is: It's not financially satisfying and recently it hasn't been emotionally OR creatively satisfying?
Maybe you should hang in there and something will turn around.
Maybe you should take a break.
Maybe you SHOULD throw in the towel and find something else to do with your time. After all, our time and energy is not infinite. You may come to a point in your life where you shrug and say, "It doesn't mean as much to me as it used to."
I think that's okay.
What do you think?
posted by Mark Terry at 3:30 PM
2 Comments:
I think it's a lot like sex. Sometimes it is just dynamite! Leaves you drained, breathless and leaves you emotionally and,...creatively satisfied. Sometimes, it's just a warm cuddly thing to do. Either way, I think I keep at it.
I've noticed that, even though I don't intend to, I end up taking a two or three month break every one - three years. I've been as close to quitting as I've ever been in the last four or five months. I just felt I was banging my head against the wall as far as my attention span was concerned. I'd just completely had it. It was just so frustrating, and then I'd think I was lazy and beat myself up about it.
I think I need to have some left-brain activity in a good portion of my day in order to write well the other portion of my day. I'm loving doing all this ebook making. I really miss the piano. I'm hoping to get that out here by summer. All that should help the writing, I hope.
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