Thread: How excited are you about writing, and does being so make you 'a writer'?

Hi everyone,

I've just started writing my first book, and even though it's something I've always felt like I'd want to do at some stage of my life I've been amazed at just how much fun it is and how excited I am about it.

I had an idea for a book, aimed at children aged 10+, around 5 years ago, and since then a film has been released which was along the same lines as my idea. That was quite annoying, so I've had to change quite a bit about the idea now that I've started. Last night I wrote the first three pages of a chapter (I haven't started on chapter one) and by the time I got in to bed I couldn't take the grin off my face. It sounds daft but I was really quite proud of myself, and have honestly never felt so excited about an idea before. It was all I could think about when I woke up this morning and I couldn't wait to continue.

I'm a graphic designer, self employed, and have work to do for clients, but I just can't stop thinking about my book.

So, basically, do you all feel this way when you start a new story? Is feeling tremendously excited about it all an indication that perhaps this is something I was 'meant to do' with my life?

Thanks!

I don't always feel that way - but sometime within the first couple of pages, it hits. And yeah - it's like living giddy 24-7. Well, at least until the first comes up.

Writing has never been exciting for me. It's like breathing, something that's a natural part of living. Sex is exciting but not essential. Writing is not exciting but is essential.

I find excitement when I feel I am writing more than just words.

Writing makes you a writer. Being excited means that you're excitable. It'll probably come and go.

It's not the writing that's exciting, but the steps along the way, i.e. your first 3 pages. It's exciting to finish your first "good" short story or poem or novel. There's the excitement about your first and subsequent sales to magazines, and the first time you hold a printed book in your hands with your name as the author. Royalty checks are nice, but the amount is usually disappointing (at least at this stage in my career.) It's great to get a good review, but it can be a real downer to get a bad one. In between, there are long periods where nothing is happening, other than slogging away at the writing and doing research on history, locale, etc.

As for being a writer, I was an aspiring writer for years, as I wrote stories and chapters for review by my writing group while I improved my craft until I deemed my writing good enough for submission to paying markets. But I didn't consider myself "a writer" until my work gained acceptance. Can you imagine how exciting my first sale to an e-magazine (a poem) was, a poem that got rave reviews on the site's forum and then won an award? After a dozen years of improvement, I was an overnight success. But, as with most writers, I don't make much money at it.

I doubt I'll ever be well-known or well-compensated, but writing is certainly exciting, even as a hobby. And I do have a bookshelf full of novels, magazines and anthologies that I've been included in. That's worth more than money to me.

Take care,

JohnB

Yes, recording my daily word count gives me a little high, and taking a poem or story through several revisions until it is lean and mean is exciting and worth all the pain and (sometimes) bloodshed.

I find writing exciting when I'm close to the end of a chapter or I write a paragraph that doesn't need editing. The rest of the time, I'm just enjoying it. For me, the indication that this is something I was meant to do is that I feel like myself when I write and when I'm writing my current novel, I feel at home in its world. You all might find that crazy, but that's how it feels.

Originally Posted by WriterJohnB

It's not the writing that's exciting, but the steps along the way, i.e. your first 3 pages. It's exciting to finish your first "good" short story or poem or novel. There's the excitement about your first and subsequent sales to magazines, and the first time you hold a printed book in your hands with your name as the author. Royalty checks are nice, but the amount is usually disappointing (at least at this stage in my career.) It's great to get a good review, but it can be a real downer to get a bad one. In between, there are long periods where nothing is happening, other than slogging away at the writing and doing research on history, locale, etc.

As for being a writer, I was an aspiring writer for years, as I wrote stories and chapters for review by my writing group while I improved my craft until I deemed my writing good enough for submission to paying markets. But I didn't consider myself "a writer" until my work gained acceptance. Can you imagine how exciting my first sale to an e-magazine (a poem) was, a poem that got rave reviews on the site's forum and then won an award? After a dozen years of improvement, I was an overnight success. But, as with most writers, I don't make much money at it.

I doubt I'll ever be well-known or well-compensated, but writing is certainly exciting, even as a hobby. And I do have a bookshelf full of novels, magazines and anthologies that I've been included in. That's worth more than money to me.

Take care,

JohnB

Thanks for the excellent reply.

Originally Posted by Grape Juice Vampire

For me, the indication that this is something I was meant to do is that I feel like myself when I write and when I'm writing my current novel, I feel at home in its world. You all might find that crazy, but that's how it feels.

Not crazy, that's exactly what I love about it so far.

Writing can be exciting, but it can also be horrifically torturous, malevolent and can serve as a huge irritant. However, one must persevere in order to make their masterpiece(s).

Originally Posted by garza

Writing has never been exciting for me. It's like breathing, something that's a natural part of living. Sex is exciting but not essential. Writing is not exciting but is essential.

You took the words out of my mouth, garza. Only I'm gonna have to argue with you, sex is totally essential. Hence the name <--- lol

it's hard to say. excitement is such a loosely used term these days. when i think of 'excitement' i think of a fleeting flash of passion and intensity, like an F5 tornado that charges through everything at a speed and force beyond natural comprehension. in many ways, i do find that existent in the writing process, but sparingly. in some ways i'd wish it was always there, but writing (especially novels) is such an arduous task that i can't say i'm constantly 'excited' when writing. it's there though. i particularly love the excitement that occurs when writing a great scene. when the words tumble out at a rate of hundreds or even thousands per hour. like surfing a great wave, it's a great thing.

when it comes to the way a book makes you feel, like you mentioned not being able to stop thinking about your book even when you can't write, that's a whole other story. that kind of thing is quite necessary. i don't know if i'd necessarily call it 'excitement', it's not quite as intense as all that most of the time, but it's definitely a strong feeling of emotional attachment to what you're doing. and that is important. i use it often to gauge whether or not something is 'worth it'. one always starts with enthusiasm, but if even just half of that enthusiasm is still there when you're twenty thousand or so words in, then that's usually a sign that you've got something good going on. good ideas may nibble at the line but great ideas swallow you whole, an eighty pound tuna that pulls you in and pulls 'til it hurts, but makes you all the more intent on hauling the sonofab*tch in. so yes, if you call that kind of thinking 'excitement', then i do think you need it.

luckyscars, I completely get what you mean. Writing can at times be incredibly challenging to the point of making me question my skill and dedication to it. It can be frustrating when I'm on the verge of writing a critical scene but can't quite build to that point. And it can cause disputes with friends and family when I'm in the zone and they keep calling to convince me to leave it and go out.

The excitement of writing comes from the feeling that I am doing something meaningful and taking control of a massive part of my life; that I am actively doing something that has the potential to be so fulfilling and rewarding, despite any hardship that comes with it. The excitement, for me, comes from the significance that writing has in my life and from the impact it can make, and not necessarily from those individual moments.

That feeling you get from writing the first few pages may just be the realisation that you are starting out on a fantastic and stellar journey.

"Writing, at its best, is a lonely life. Organizations for writers palliate the
writer's loneliness but I doubt if they improve his writing. He grows in public
stature as he sheds his loneliness and often his work deteriorates. For he does his
work alone and if he is a good enough writer he must face eternity,
or the lack of it, each day."
-- Ernest Miller Hemingway