“Looking five years down the road — to the middle of 2024 — tell us where you WISH your writing career would be. And then (if you’re able) tell us where you actually EXPECT it to be… unless those are the same.”
Wow, does ANYONE’S wishes about ANYTHING meet their expectations? OK, I know a few lucky ducks, but they have been few and far between. Considering all of the people that I have known, the percentage is extremely low.
When I first decided that I wanted to write a book, (which soon became a series of three), they were on practical matters, with true stories in between. When the idea first came to mind and I started putting it down, I expected BIG THINGS to come of it…and I was going onto a milestone, so I wanted to “get out there”, fast. Little did I know that there is no place for someone new ‘out there’ to publish anything on food, entertaining or any practical advice, (including pets). You have to have a ‘name’, even if that name has absolutely nothing at all to do with whatever you care to write about. Publishers feel that the public has to know you, say from Animal Planet or The Food Network. It can even be The Weather Channel, ESPN, The Travel Channel, movies or a hit sitcom; no real knowledge or expertise needed, just a little experience…a very little, and a NAME.
So, once that idea was crushed and family problems took over, I found myself writing articles and poetry, some of which were published, with and without compensation. Only then, and after I had given up on them as a kid, did fiction stories come to me, (some of which are based on reality).
I decided to go all-in, because the milestone passed and another was looming.
Now I have hit even another milestone; I’d better get on it because too many dreams have died around me. I saw too many family members and friends take too many plans and dreams to the Next World.
So, let’s dream: I wish to be pumping out all kinds of written works and immediately have them published. I’d like to get at least sone of them produced into a movie, or into a stage play and then into a movie. It would also be nice to be monetarily rewarded very handsomely for said work.
I’d like to think that I could come up with more full-length novels than I have been able to dream up so far. I’d like to have cleared–up situations so that I can feel that I can put the effort I need to into my works.
I’d like to have my short stories readily grabbed and have ’em clamoring for more.
I’d love to have my children’s stories out there, maybe have them become classics, (at least one or two).
I’d like to think that I could travel and speak, but not HAVE to.
Reality?
Expectations: Have a novel or two published by a small press and maybe a few stories that will get accepted. I’m going to polish and get the kids’ stories out there as well. I plan on being more determined, because, frankly with my health, I can’t see having a whole lot more time, (if I make it to the five year mark).
It would be nice to actually see a bit more money for some of the work; anything at all. It’s been a while, if only for validation.
But who knows? Anyway, I’d like to enjoy seeing myself in print more and justify my being here.
It will be interesting to see what happens with all of us in the next few years.
Angela Schroeder
Patricia Kiyono
Elaine Cantrell
Jeff Salter
Joselyn
Tonette Joyce
Four Foxes, One Hound 
Keep plugging away! Jodi Picoult is credited with saying “You can’t edit a blank page.” So keep writing. If you can’t sit at your computer, then record your thoughts on a voice recorder for transcription later. If you’ve got shorter stories, get those out. Don’t sell yourself short, and don’t dwell on stumbling blocks. Focus on the goal.
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Thanks, Patty; as I said in a previous post, most of this is getting the other stories to keep quiet while I work on one.
Early on I tried taping notes, only to find that it took FOREVER to go through them and transcribe. I don’t forget much of what I want to say.I am mostly a pantser and the characters run for me when I get my self in chair and fingers on the keyboard.It’s getting there. I need to let things go so that I can.
I do so appreciate all of your encouragement!
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yes, the “lucky ducks” are few and far between.
And I totally agree that the big Six NYC publishing houses seem to be far more interested in contracting a NAME than in whether that individual wrote anything of any measurable quality or uniqueness… or, indeed, whether they actually wrote the manuscript themselves at all. [While some of the NAMES do write their own stuff… there are MANY who simply hire it out and — presumably — glance over it at some point.]
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Absolutely. The example I use is just to look at all of the cookbooks that Gwyneth Paltroe had done.I thumbed through the first one, which consists of using duck breast in many recipes! Everyone knows that she is a lifestyle trainwreck anyway.I cannot imagine why people buy her books. Another is Merrill Markoe, not a commonly known name at first, but she wrote for many big TV shows and, because of her interest in animals and a leg-up in the industry, she got on Animal Planet doing some show about dogs and then got at least one book published for her ‘expertise’ in that area. (She also wrote a slamming book barely veiling that it was about her former boyfriend, David Letterman. Apparently, “Stupid Pet Tricks” was her brainchild.)
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A stage play would be great!
Keep writing. it can be difficult to concentrate on one when you have so many story ideas just waiting to be written.
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I have one story down already as a stage play, Angie. Based on a real evening,I wanted to grab someone with a camera and just shoot it as a short…it is easily done with three people, but I put it down,(with the help of Celtx) as a play. It is really hard to get anyone to even read an “unrepresented” play, and I don’t have an agent.
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