“We are all apprentices in a craft where no one ever becomes a master.”
—Ernest Hemingway
What aspects of writing brings you vitality and what parts of the process are exhausting?
22 thoughts on “Tell Us What Energizes and Exhausts You About Writing”
Writing energizes me. It’s where I go to play.
My day job is very busy and I also do theatre at night.
Writing is my early morning and weekend escape. It’s a treat that I look forward to because I don’t have a lot of time to spend on it. Paradoxically, I find when I do have the time, I don’t get as much done.
You are a busy woman, Cynthia. Whew!
Love the Hemingway quote, Jordan.
Storytelling energizes me. In the zone is my happy place. Marketing exhausts me.
Ugh, totally agree on marketing.
When words come together in exactly the right way to capture a feeling on paper… that energizes me.
Trying to stay relevant and active on social media exhausts me.
I’ve recently been playing with Instagram because with the same post, it feeds Twitter & facebook. A time saver.
But I feel ya on feeding the social media kitty.
What kitty? More like a piranha!
Waiting to hear if a submission is accepted: exhausting.
Waiting for the publication date of an accepted piece: energizing.
I have a story coming out in two weeks – my 20th published work – and I’m as excited as I was about my first story.
It never gets old, for sure. That’s what real passion is about,
Research and plotting out the novel is the energizing part. As is the first draft. The rest is tiring.
The act of creation is the energizing part for me. Not just building something completely new, but molding it and shaping it into something that speaks with elegance and grace but still has the ability to keep a reader on the edge of his or her seat … that kind of work toward mastery mentioned in the Hemmingway quote. It’s that part that excites and energizes me.
As for the other, I’m in this weird stage of my career where everything is still a possible pitfall. When I show my work to someone, they automatically assume I’m looking for feedback and constructive criticism so they read it with an editor’s eye and point out potential flaws and errors instead of reading as a reader. It isn’t to say that I don’t think I have any way to improve, I’m sure I do, but at some point I’d like to have my work read as is and not for critique. That’s the exhausting part right now.
People love to line edit because it’s easier than giving a bird’s eye view on plot, character motivation, etc. The beta readers who can do that are rare, but all beta readers have some worth. You may have to keep searching for the beta gems to keep. It’s not easy.
You might consider giving your beta readers a homework assignment where they’re only asked to answer a few of your questions AFTER they read it (without a red pencil). That’s worked for me. Good luck.
Energizing: Going for a walk when a problem stumps me, then having the solution pop into my brain. Can’t get back to the computer fast enough.
Exhausting: marketing b/c it never ends and so many routes don’t pan out.
Exhausting but energizing: teaching and mentoring. It’s challenging to coherently explain concepts to new writers but when the light bulb goes on in their eyes, it’s magic.
I agree, Debbie. Good list.
Meeting a day’s quota and writing an engaging scene bring me vitality. The first one, the quota, is doable with effort. Crafting an engaging scene is hard and I mostly fail. I wonder when I’m ever going to learn to do this right, and that’s exhausting.
The fact that you care about each scene like this gives me a good feeling about your work, Priscilla. Whatever you’re doing sounds awesome. Writing isn’t easy. If it was, everyone would be a novelist.
energizing: Dreaming up scenes and having them come out even better (it’s happening more often now that I have a tight outline).
Exhausting: When I’m trying to write but all I want to do is find out what happens next in an already-published book.
Ha! I’m faced with your point 2 right now. Well said.
Writing “The End” on the final draft energizes me.
True that.
Energizing: Writing when it’s going well.
Exhausting: Social media marketing, especially FB and Twitter.
Writing energizes me. It’s where I go to play.
My day job is very busy and I also do theatre at night.
Writing is my early morning and weekend escape. It’s a treat that I look forward to because I don’t have a lot of time to spend on it. Paradoxically, I find when I do have the time, I don’t get as much done.
You are a busy woman, Cynthia. Whew!
Love the Hemingway quote, Jordan.
Storytelling energizes me. In the zone is my happy place. Marketing exhausts me.
Ugh, totally agree on marketing.
When words come together in exactly the right way to capture a feeling on paper… that energizes me.
Trying to stay relevant and active on social media exhausts me.
I’ve recently been playing with Instagram because with the same post, it feeds Twitter & facebook. A time saver.
But I feel ya on feeding the social media kitty.
What kitty? More like a piranha!
Waiting to hear if a submission is accepted: exhausting.
Waiting for the publication date of an accepted piece: energizing.
I have a story coming out in two weeks – my 20th published work – and I’m as excited as I was about my first story.
It never gets old, for sure. That’s what real passion is about,
Research and plotting out the novel is the energizing part. As is the first draft. The rest is tiring.
The act of creation is the energizing part for me. Not just building something completely new, but molding it and shaping it into something that speaks with elegance and grace but still has the ability to keep a reader on the edge of his or her seat … that kind of work toward mastery mentioned in the Hemmingway quote. It’s that part that excites and energizes me.
As for the other, I’m in this weird stage of my career where everything is still a possible pitfall. When I show my work to someone, they automatically assume I’m looking for feedback and constructive criticism so they read it with an editor’s eye and point out potential flaws and errors instead of reading as a reader. It isn’t to say that I don’t think I have any way to improve, I’m sure I do, but at some point I’d like to have my work read as is and not for critique. That’s the exhausting part right now.
People love to line edit because it’s easier than giving a bird’s eye view on plot, character motivation, etc. The beta readers who can do that are rare, but all beta readers have some worth. You may have to keep searching for the beta gems to keep. It’s not easy.
You might consider giving your beta readers a homework assignment where they’re only asked to answer a few of your questions AFTER they read it (without a red pencil). That’s worked for me. Good luck.
Energizing: Going for a walk when a problem stumps me, then having the solution pop into my brain. Can’t get back to the computer fast enough.
Exhausting: marketing b/c it never ends and so many routes don’t pan out.
Exhausting but energizing: teaching and mentoring. It’s challenging to coherently explain concepts to new writers but when the light bulb goes on in their eyes, it’s magic.
I agree, Debbie. Good list.
Meeting a day’s quota and writing an engaging scene bring me vitality. The first one, the quota, is doable with effort. Crafting an engaging scene is hard and I mostly fail. I wonder when I’m ever going to learn to do this right, and that’s exhausting.
The fact that you care about each scene like this gives me a good feeling about your work, Priscilla. Whatever you’re doing sounds awesome. Writing isn’t easy. If it was, everyone would be a novelist.
energizing: Dreaming up scenes and having them come out even better (it’s happening more often now that I have a tight outline).
Exhausting: When I’m trying to write but all I want to do is find out what happens next in an already-published book.
Ha! I’m faced with your point 2 right now. Well said.
Writing “The End” on the final draft energizes me.
True that.
Energizing: Writing when it’s going well.
Exhausting: Social media marketing, especially FB and Twitter.
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