Cautious Optimism

Had you asked me, when I was 11 or 12 years old, what I wanted to be when I grew up, my answer would have been immediate and enthusiastic. “A writer!” Writing was my hobby of choice and I pursued it avidly.

As a teenager, I had a mental picture of what The Writing Life would look like. I would sit at a desk in my study in a beautiful country home, purchased with the proceeds of my latest bestseller. I would sit there with my paper illuminated by a shaft of sunlight, gazing out the big picture window on a bucolic landscape, pencil in hand. (My imagination didn’t extend to envisioning the utter wonder that is the laptop computer.) I would gaze at the rolling green hills until inspiration struck, and then the words would flow effortlessly, the plot taking shape as I looked on in awe, a mere vessel for my muse.

In my 20s and 30s, I continued to write for the fun of it – snippets and random scenes, journal entries, whatever caught my fancy. A few times, I made a run at producing the Great American Novel that would finance my country home. I quickly discovered that the old Thomas Edison adage – “Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration” – is, regrettably, true, at least for me. Writing a novel, it turns out, is a lot different from writing snippets and stories for fun. It requires a sustained effort, a command of the craft, and even – please say it ain’t so! – a plan. The muse, it seems, does not strike out of the blue. It needs to be sought, coaxed, cajoled, nurtured. The muse is a very high maintenance date.

Still, I wasn’t too worried. James Michener didn’t start writing until he was 40 years old, after all! I had plenty of time!

Now I am looking 50 uncomfortably in the face and am facing the uncomfortable fact that if I want this to happen – to turn out differently than my last dozen attempts – I need to put my faith in hard work rather than wait for my muse to come calling. I’m hopeful, though. I’ve knuckled down and learned a lot about the craft in the past couple of years, and I’ve found writing buddies who aren’t afraid to bestow that most precious of gifts, an Honest Opinion. And most importantly, I’ve come to understand that the most important writing exercise is “Put Butt in Chair”.

Will 2007 be the Year of the Novel for me? I am cautiously optimistic. And there’s this really nice country home I’ve got my eye on…

Cheers,

Samantha