Friday, May 18, 2012

Playtime is Over

This morning on Jeffe Kennedy's blog post Doggedness, Stick-to-it-iveness and Perseverance she mentions an encounter with a three year old - Betsy - and something the little girl said that's now stuck in my brain.  “I *was* having fun, but I’m not having fun anymore!”

I think Jeffe talked about it in reference to trying to find the fun when all it feels like you're doing is working, but it hit me a little different.  For me, I keep wondering if I haven't been playing Betsy for months now.

I think I might be sitting around pouting because I'm not having fun anymore.   :stomps one foot in disgust:  And I wanna be having fun.  Dang it.

Oh puleeze.

Nobody said any of this was going to be fun.  And I'm way too old to throw a pout-fest when it's not so much fun.  This is my frickin' job.  Sure, I'd like if it was fun all the time, but the reality of it is that it's work - sometimes damn hard work.  If I wanted it to be fun all the time, I'd just sit here writing and never bother to edit.  I'd never bother to try and get my work into some publishable shape.  I'd just write and write, like I did when I was a little girl.

Heh, maybe that's why I have so many manuscripts I never really finished.  I wasn't willing to put forth the effort, and now I've got so much work to do it seems insurmountable.  (But that's a theory for another day.)

Needless to say, my inner Betsy needs to take a nap.  Or sit in a time-out for a few weeks so I can get some genuine, totally un-fun work done.  Playtime is over, little girl.

So, regardless of whether this is supposed to be my day to relax or whether I have other more fun things to do, I need to spend some serious time doing serious things.

What do you have planned for the weekend?

3 comments:

  1. Hmmm...I come down on the opposite end of this one. I think that if something about a project isn't fun for weeks or months on end, it's time to let it go (for now) because if the author isn't having some fun, the reader won't either.

    Good luck!

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  2. This is a tough dilemma, B.E. We write because it *is* fun, but when we get serious about publishing, it becomes a job. I've always wanted a job that I loved. I've been lucky a time or three. I loved my time in the fire service and law enforcement. But I love the job I have now more. Even when I hate it. Oh yeah. I don't know any writer who doesn't have a love/hate relationship with the process.

    I have no real advice but hang in there. You aren't alone!

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  3. I agree - I mostly hate editing. And you just have to push through it. Sometimes even writing the first draft is hard, and you have to push through certain parts. As long as you still love writing and have fun sometimes, I think you're totally on the right track. Crack that whip and do it, girl!

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