Writing Career ?

I don’t know if I can be a writer. I just turned 40 and I feel like I’m running out of time. More truthfully, I don’t know if I want to be a writer, if I want to make the necessary sacrifices. I’ve always thought that great creative minds had to suffer for their art. I’ve had relatively little suffering in my relatively blessed life, so perhaps I lack that beam of inspiration. Nevertheless, I think I have some valuable insight into the lives of common (read: average) men, and some things that I have written glimmer with potential.

I will give it one more try. One more SERIOUS try.

I can’t let this float forever, though. Therefore, I am going to give myself a deadline. After one full year of seriously attempting to attempt to right, if I am unable to maintain the production schedule or unable to complete anything worthwhile, I will be done.

One hour each day. At least. If I miss a day, I have to make it up in that week.
If this upcoming year feels successful, and I have something solid, I will use the following year to make money with my writing. If I have nothing that can be sold, I will be done with the pursuit of writing as a career.

I have a number of kernels to develop – essay ideas that would be perfect as blog posts. There are some short fiction ideas floating around in my notes, and, as always, the long standing long fiction – both genre and ‘regular.’ Poems may also pop up now and again. D&D writing is also part of it, with the idea of developing characters (and worlds) that stand independent of their gaming origins.

If I can’t do it, I will focus my encouragement on my daughter. An avid reader, her interest in horses has led her to RPG web sites, where she tells interactive stories from horses’ points of view. She has already been more productive than I have in the last year or so. She has potential! Hopefully my own production over the next year can serve as encouragement. I think that what she’s writing now may fit into popular pre-adolescent horse-loving-girls magazines.

My wife is behind me, of course. She has always encouraged and appreciated my creativity. I find that I love her more every day. Seriously.

You, dear Reader, will be my gauge. Your feedback will be as vital as ever in this upcoming evaluation. Thank you. All five of you.


PS: I’m starting today, and this post counts as today’s hour!