Thread: I'm New and have no idea what I'm getting myself into

I became unemployed and found myself composing thoughts about stuff I could write about. I've always had a different take on everything, sometimes funny, sometimes creative, sometimes serious but skewed from reality. Kind of like an alternate point of view or playing devil's advocate, so to speak.

My biggest fear is there are thousands of writers (my thoughts drift to the thousand monkeys with a thousand typewriters quip but I'll hang onto reality for everyone's sanity)... anyway, TENS of thousands of writers, all with great things to write about, but in not having the connections to get something published, it's all time wasted if you never get anywhere. Don't get me wrong, any hobby that provides fulfillment is wonderful... let me rephrase that.... (insert booming voice here) won-der-fulllllll, but if I could earn more slogging-it-out-in-some-corporate-job-I-hate for a guaranteed yet tortured existence paycheck where I find I have to drink myself out of the bottom of a bottle and beat my kids just to feel like a man.....

Okay, I'm not an alcoholic, and I love kids. But the point is, well, I think you get the point. Any advice is greatly appreciated!!!
Thanks and hugs to everyone. (especially the ladies) oops.. here comes my wife.... I don't know you *wink*

P.S. I like this guy best ...

Hi there, and welcome to the forums. Why do you think that being unemployed has anything to do with being published? The last one is just a bit of luck. If you send out a manucript and the receiver likes it, you have a contract! And you probably won't stay unemployed. I've been there as well, even now when I'm over 50. I always manage to find another job, even if I have to wait a couple of weeks.

Sounds like a metaphor for life - Hello, good evening and welcome...

I have always found in life that if I didn't set off on a journey I never went anywhere.

Welcome to WF, JR.

Hi JR,
I love old saws.
Every journey starts with the first step. (Pack a lunch box).
Welcome to another of life's steps, at the forum.

Nice to meet you, JR.

Just being honest, but it sounds to me as though you're trying to get in to writing for the wrong reasons.

There is, of course, a goal or a dream of one day being published, being known, admired, respected, and being able to do this for a steady income in your own time, but for most it is simply a dream. You write because you have a story to tell, or because you have something to say. You write for yourself before anyone else, in my opinion. What you don't write for is to hope it pays the bills, not in the short term at least. Your post also seems to admit defeat before you've even begun, and again that's not a very good starting point.

Good luck with what you choose to do, but if you want to write something then just write. Don't think about what it could lead to, just write.

Thanks everyone, and especially Jamie for your honesty.

It's not being self-defeatist, but I am at a crossroads. I have always loved to write, and have done it for enjoyment except in recent years where I have taken on more job duties beyond my control, and not by my own doing. I became stressed, overworked, and with a new boss who made up his mind from the day he met me that he didn't like me, pushed to the edge where I had to get out or risk serious damage to my state of mind.

I have always dreamed of becoming an author, but it seems like the deck is stacked against me, much like the music or acting industry where many, many people try, but few really make it. I believe all of us have a story to tell inside of us. Some of us are more eloquent, others blunt, yet as writers, we have the gift of being able to write. Now, whether the masses can appreciate our talent is another story.

Do we hone our ability to produce the finest buggy whip ever cracked? Do we try to plant more acres of wheat by hand than has ever been planted before? Some talents, while they make great hobbies, really won't make an impact upon society or would support someone financially. Spending hours upon hours at something one enjoys is one thing, another is to hone your skills and abilities to live out your dream of supporting yourself with it.

That question can only be answered by oneself. I imagine it is really a rhetorical question I have asked, although I didn't know it at the time. It is for each of us to decide whether to spend our lives doing something spiritually draining that pays the bills, or to live out one's dreams while throwing caution to the wind. It is like the office manager who one day sells all his belongings and heads to Alaska to live in the wild.

I've been down this path before. I had lots of photographic ability once. In pursuing my dream, I chose to support myself doing product modeling, sports photography, news photography, and wedding photography. Although my true love was landscape photography, in the form of Ansel Adams. That kind of photography requires a large amount of money and expense, being able to support yourself for months at a time in the wilderness. One may never even become recognized. In the end, the pressure to produce made me hate photography, or rather what it has become.

Bloggsworth said it perfectly when he said that if you never set off on a journey, you never go anywhere.

See you all on the forum, thanks for the great feedback.
Happy writing.

JRB

Hi JR. I read this latest post of yours with interest because it sounded as if you were talking about my exact situation. I have that same sort of boss, and the daily conflicts have made the job a constant source of stress, basically a verbally-abusive relationship between two men. I share your sentiment about having to "get out". I find myself wishing to hurt this other person, and sometimes I wonder how it all came to be this way.

Sucks to hear you may have burned out on photography. I suppose, too, you probably have a soft spot for Edward Weston? I've always kind of lumped the two together in my mind. Same era. Both absolute wonders in regard to their darkroom technique. I also had a huge passion for photography, but found myself limited in my own way. I love the 60's-70's New York photographers: Lee Freidlander, Diane Arbus, Gary Winogrand. Wanted to do that kind of street photography, to have my own snazzy Leica, but just couldn't afford it. And I live in the country, so far away from New York. So I just kind of gave up.

This writing thing -- it's free. Pretty fun too. I'll keep an eye out for some of your work. If you are looking to become a better writer, and you can tolerate criticism, I suggest posting in the Workshop here.

Welcome.

Jesus -- how could I forget Robert Frank in all of that?

I like you, JR, you're honest and have some sharp wit. Always a winning combination in my book. Welcome to the forums, there's something here for everyone, I assure you. And I agree with this wholeheartedly, with thanks to Jamie for putting it so well:

Originally Posted by Jamie

There is, of course, a goal or a dream of one day being published, being known, admired, respected, and being able to do this for a steady income in your own time, but for most it is simply a dream. You write because you have a story to tell, or because you have something to say. You write for yourself before anyone else, in my opinion. What you don't write for is to hope it pays the bills, not in the short term at least. Your post also seems to admit defeat before you've even begun, and again that's not a very good starting point.

Good luck with what you choose to do, but if you want to write something then just write. Don't think about what it could lead to, just write.

Hi John, yes, I love Edward Weston. I truly respect him as an artist. I may be mistaken, as I have not studied the wide swath of photographic artists out there, but to me the true genius that is Ansel is not just the artistic side, but his painstaking diligence at describing the photographic process in true scientific form. For you cooking fanatics out there, he's what I respect in Alton Brown, for being able to describe the science behind the art. Did Weston and the others have a true command of the photographic technique? I certainly believe so. Photography is a combination of science and art. At least it used to be. I look down at Photoshop people with their illusions and skewed reality sometimes. Well, when it's obviously surreal and fantasy, I can respect the art, but when someone is enhancing reality and passing it off as reality, then we (in the English monarchy form) are not amused.

But like there are pianists who intuitively play good music and others who are mechanical scientists in the art, whomever can describe it to ME best, wins. Yes, I began a sentence with the word "but" and even worse, an entire paragraph! Take me away and lock me up in the literary dungeon, for my faux pas has no excuse! Look, there is the guy who designed the Edsel, there is the guy who referred to the Polaner*™ All-Fruit as JELLY, there is the guy who put KETCHUP on his Beef Wellington! I am among friends here.

I must admit, I had to look up Robert Frank (thanks Wikipedia), and his styling reminds me of Margaret Bourke-White. I do like that kind of photography. Not classical Weston/Adams, but definitely masters within their own right. I owned a couple of 4x5 press cameras (still do, but they've been collecting dust for the last 20 years) to truly own the press format of the day. My favorite movie for press camera action... The Public Eye (1992) with Joe Pesci.

As for the work thing, well, I'm not one of those people who just shuts his mouth and does his job without questioning authority, especially in unethical matters. I am unwilling to be ruled by a complete stranger with a completely different set of ethics than my own. Our American Declaration of Independence states that All Men Are Created Equal. I refuse to bow down to someone and take abusive treatment simply because I have to work for a living. My contribution to the cause is worthy of respect. Offices are nasty places where one is forced into submission, told where their place is, and is subject to the foul moods of their superiors, while being stripped of all right to privacy and free speech. I had documented hostility and abuse, and even sought legal counsel after leaving the company, only to be told that the Employer is judge, jury, and executioner. All made-up charges, warnings, disciplines, and harassment, as long as it is not protected discrimination, is fair game. I was the object of outright bullying, and yes, it is next to impossible to get another job in this economy without your previous boss as a reference.

Enough about that, I'm opening a new chapter in my life.

Oh yeah, a Leica M6 has always been my dream camera for small roll film. I'm really sad, though, about the passing of that great era. Digital can't be ignored, and I don't have time for long sessions in the darkroom, but it was definitely a magical time, whether alone in the dark quietness, or listening to a small radio playing seldom-heard, small town bands that rock stations only played at 3am before Clearchannel and the Mega Radio Empire Networks took over. **sigh**

JRB

Originally Posted by JRBurgher

My biggest fear is there are thousands of writers (my thoughts drift to the thousand monkeys with a thousand typewriters quip but I'll hang onto reality for everyone's sanity)... anyway, TENS of thousands of writers, all with great things to write about, but in not having the connections to get something published, it's all time wasted if you never get anywhere.

Oh, it's never a waste. A skill with language is always valuable, even if you never get published. But on that note, do you know how long it took Ray Bradbury to first get published? A really, really long time. He said he wrote millions of words, submitted countless short-stories to different venues, and kept cranking them out despite the rejections. (Bradbury On Writing)

Just because there are tens of thousands of authors out there, that doesn't mean you can't do it, too. Don't even worry about them. Worry about you.

Originally Posted by bazz cargo

Hi JR,
I love old saws.
Every journey starts with the first step. (Pack a lunch box).
Welcome to another of life's steps, at the forum.

I loved the pack a lunch box addition there Bazz.

But as everyone else has said Welcome to the forums. The world of writing is an amazing one. Just keeping doing it and it will find you.