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"I just had an apostrophe."
"I think you mean an epiphany."
--Hook
----------------------------------------------
I woke up this morning and realized something.
I am going to have no time to write in college.
Now, this may not sound like a startling revelation, but it brought home certain other meanings. It means, that, considering I have finished Alch. 1, and Alch. 1 is part of a trilogy, I am not going to be able to publish Alch. 1 for five...whole...years.
Think about it. The way I'm going in Alch. 1, I figure I'd have it ready to submit to an editor if not a publisher within a few months or maybe the school year. That's all fine and dandy--I'll get the book out there and all, finally get published and thus live out my dream, and make a little money while I'm at it--but then I've got four years of college facing me. There is no way I'm going to find the time or patience to write Alch. 2. And I'm no J. K. Rowling--my readers are not going to let me go 4 or 5 years with no sequel. So my only options are either to somehow write the other two books and edit all three by the time next summer is over (and then I'd have to deal with publishers and royalties and all that jazz), or let the whole damn thing sit dormant for five years until I'm through college.
So that's foresight for you. If I'd have known that I would have to let the Alchemist Trilogy get dusy on the shelves for five years, I wouldn't have written it. I mean, high school hasn't been easy, but I've found plenty of time to get this first book written--and I'm very proud of it. But imagine coming back to it in 5 years, when I've been through college, have developed my vocabulary and writing skills, and looking at it then. I'll probably laugh and say, "holy shit, I was a terrible writer back then!" Hell, I already do that with stuff I wrote only a few years ago. And Alch. 1 is the first thing I've ever finished--I don't want to end up ashamed of it.
Ah, well. I'll do what I can. Maybe if I keep an eye on Alch. 1 over the next 5 years I'll be able to expand it as my writing skills do, and therefore not freak out when I look at it in 5 years. Plus, with 5 years of editing, if it's not good by then then I probably shouldn't be writing.
Unfortunately, however the Alch. Tril. goes, this new problem means that I won't be able to write at all. What I could do, I suppose, is work on one of my single projects that is already well on its way to completion, such as Kiala or Taenailo, get that done by the end of the school year, and try to work out publishing over the summer. I don't like deadlines, though--but we'll have to see. In the meantime I'll of course continue editing Alch. 1. And I also figure that over the course of college, I'll be able to outline the next two books thoroughly so it won't take as long to write them. But man, if I can't write for at least this last school year, I'll probably go nuts with boredom. It's not like I have much else to do after school once HW is done.
Which leads me to another revelation: that writing has sort of taken over my life. That's all good and dandy when I become a writer after college, but it's not good now when I've still got teenage life to live. I've missed out on all sorts of things already because I've been too busy writing. So, the new problem is: find some projects and/or stuff to pursue so I don't feel the hole that not writing will leave. I could take more bike rides, read more, stuff like that I suppose.
But don't worry, I don't in any way intend to give up writing altogether. Writing is who I am and what I do, and even at this point there's no denying that. Still, I suppose every writer takes a few years out of their lives to stop writing for a while and see what the other aspects of life holds for them.
Let's hear a woot woot for life-changing epiphanies.
"I think you mean an epiphany."
--Hook
----------------------------------------------
I woke up this morning and realized something.
I am going to have no time to write in college.
Now, this may not sound like a startling revelation, but it brought home certain other meanings. It means, that, considering I have finished Alch. 1, and Alch. 1 is part of a trilogy, I am not going to be able to publish Alch. 1 for five...whole...years.
Think about it. The way I'm going in Alch. 1, I figure I'd have it ready to submit to an editor if not a publisher within a few months or maybe the school year. That's all fine and dandy--I'll get the book out there and all, finally get published and thus live out my dream, and make a little money while I'm at it--but then I've got four years of college facing me. There is no way I'm going to find the time or patience to write Alch. 2. And I'm no J. K. Rowling--my readers are not going to let me go 4 or 5 years with no sequel. So my only options are either to somehow write the other two books and edit all three by the time next summer is over (and then I'd have to deal with publishers and royalties and all that jazz), or let the whole damn thing sit dormant for five years until I'm through college.
So that's foresight for you. If I'd have known that I would have to let the Alchemist Trilogy get dusy on the shelves for five years, I wouldn't have written it. I mean, high school hasn't been easy, but I've found plenty of time to get this first book written--and I'm very proud of it. But imagine coming back to it in 5 years, when I've been through college, have developed my vocabulary and writing skills, and looking at it then. I'll probably laugh and say, "holy shit, I was a terrible writer back then!" Hell, I already do that with stuff I wrote only a few years ago. And Alch. 1 is the first thing I've ever finished--I don't want to end up ashamed of it.
Ah, well. I'll do what I can. Maybe if I keep an eye on Alch. 1 over the next 5 years I'll be able to expand it as my writing skills do, and therefore not freak out when I look at it in 5 years. Plus, with 5 years of editing, if it's not good by then then I probably shouldn't be writing.
Unfortunately, however the Alch. Tril. goes, this new problem means that I won't be able to write at all. What I could do, I suppose, is work on one of my single projects that is already well on its way to completion, such as Kiala or Taenailo, get that done by the end of the school year, and try to work out publishing over the summer. I don't like deadlines, though--but we'll have to see. In the meantime I'll of course continue editing Alch. 1. And I also figure that over the course of college, I'll be able to outline the next two books thoroughly so it won't take as long to write them. But man, if I can't write for at least this last school year, I'll probably go nuts with boredom. It's not like I have much else to do after school once HW is done.
Which leads me to another revelation: that writing has sort of taken over my life. That's all good and dandy when I become a writer after college, but it's not good now when I've still got teenage life to live. I've missed out on all sorts of things already because I've been too busy writing. So, the new problem is: find some projects and/or stuff to pursue so I don't feel the hole that not writing will leave. I could take more bike rides, read more, stuff like that I suppose.
But don't worry, I don't in any way intend to give up writing altogether. Writing is who I am and what I do, and even at this point there's no denying that. Still, I suppose every writer takes a few years out of their lives to stop writing for a while and see what the other aspects of life holds for them.
Let's hear a woot woot for life-changing epiphanies.
