Writers, here is something I’m dealing with and I could use your advice. I’ve been writing for four years, give or take a few months, and I’m getting busier and busier. That should be a good thing, right? But what I’m finding is I’m meeting deadlines and finding new assignments, but the BIG projects, the ones that whirl around in my mind but don’t get on the paper, those are my elephants in the room. I walk around them and admire them, but when in the world would I ever find time to tackle them? My dilemma seems to be this: I feel compelled to do the more mundane jobs to “pay the bills” and to keep my little writing career going, but I am beginning to feel some pressure to get going on the more important topics. The risk is that no one will care about them even if I do write them, and they may not be worth the huge amount of time I’d have to spend on them.
Have any of you been in my shoes? Do I step out and take a bigger risk? Find some new motivation and discipline? What do I discard and what do I keep– someone tell me to follow my heart and deal with that elephant—please.
Follow your heart and deal with the elephant. The bills will always be there–they can wait! OTOH, it’s nice to keep getting a few bylines (and cash!) during those longer projects because you can start to lose your confidence as a writer. So get going with the elephant, but take a break every now and then to work on some of the shorter, faster things.
(Spoken by the woman who has been skirting the elephant for years!)
Good advice. I know… one bite at a time.
Yes, go for them! Even if it just ends up being for your own artistic expression and creativity. I have a little book project I keep plugging away at, and now it is taking form and I like it!