It’s not easy being a writer. I may lament, but I do not expect your pity or sympathy. I am simply stating a  fact. I’m certain that it would be just as valid to say that being a professional baseball player is not easy but, alas, my baseball career was cut short by a lack of talent in hitting the ball. I am familiar with the task of writing fiction, a task that I love.

Writing a novel is a veritable slog through a marshy and unforgiving landscape uphill and ever climbing. There are so many things that vie for your attention; the family, food, play time with your daughter, television, internet, reading, movies and more. One that lacks focus will be whisked away by these various winds and the story will fall by the wayside as so much detritus. I have experienced this myself on an occasion and try to learn from such mistakes and press forward.

Persistence is a learned virtue. It is also valuable to finish a string of writing forms to build your way towards the great length of a novel. I have written poems, short stories and a movie screenplay to prepare me for writing a novel. In addition, I have written one novel before and having the knowledge that I have finished such a length of story once, allows me to believe that I can do so again with some assurance.

I suppose this is a form of pep talk to myself, but perhaps others out there that are struggling with writing a longer form of story will gain some small fortitude as well. I have reached 100 pages of my novel and though I had expected to be further along when I started at the beginning of the year, I am excited about where the story is taking me and look forward to spending how long it takes to finish my tale, Of course, it won’t help that I plan on writing a short story for submission to an anthology of weird westerns before the end of the year.

Ever pressing upward and onward…