Thoughts about writing

When I write, I find it the most absorbing thing in the world.

That is both a good and a bad thing.

It's good, because when I get the urgency to express my thoughts on paper, I don't stop. Hours fly by as I revel in English, toying with metaphor and creating written pictures.

It's bad, because I get up from the computer with an icy, numbed neck and shoulder muscles knotted and screaming.

It's good because I can think of no other way I would rather spend my working day. I sit down (using yesterday as an example, because that was when I finished the book for proof reading) at 8am, and next thing you know (barring a trip to the kitchen for boiled egg and soldiers), it's 12 o'clock.

It's bad because I have to work for a living in the regular way. Simply, I have days and days when I dare not sit down and write, because I don't have the spare two or three hours required. I have full time work to do, food to cook, and house to take care of, and I occasionally need sleep too.

Will this book be a liberation or a poisoned chalice? I know most dreams we would like to follow are easier if you don't have to do a "job" as well, but the harsh realities are that few would be writers will be good enough, or prolific enough, to support themselves through that writing. As nice as that would be, I know I'm not likely to be the next JKR. Maybe I can be content with writing part time.

If nothing else, the journey will have something to teach me I suppose.

Now, for that boiled egg and soldiers methinks.

Sue J