Insecure Writers' Support Group: Wisdom from Gandalf

Another lovely Insecure Writers' Support Group Wednesday is here. For more information about this great forum, click HERE.

As I gathered with some friends to watch The Hobbit, a particular exchange between Gandalf and Bilbo stood out to me.

Biblo: Can you promise that I will come back?

Gandalf: No. And if you do... you will not be the same. 

 

What does Bilbo do? He goes to bed. 

 

Yes, he heads to catch some winks with expectations to go on with his life as normal in the morning. He most likely begged the Hobbit gods to make the houseful of impolite dwarves swarming his kitchen to disappear by the time he awoke.

 

Baggins cowers away, tempted more by the comforts of his established and quiet life.  When he wakes and finds himself alone, the itching Took inside him drives him out if his quaint home to join the dwarves and Gandalf on their dangerous adventure. The hobbit didn't know what was ahead of him but he went regardless of possible incineration or countless other gruesome deaths.

 

We as writers take on a similar journey. Although, hopefully minus sleeping on the ground and fighting trolls and dragons (at least not in our minds). 

 

Journeying on an adventure with words does not have any guarantees. There isn't a contract at the beginning saying it is going to work exactly how you want it to.

 

There are ups and downs and depression that hits when you least expect it. 

 

But through the words that often times cramp our fingers from typing, we are not the same as when we began. We are better, far better for it because we tried regardless of the end result. 

 

So keep on writing.

 

What are your thoughts on this subject?

 

Hugs

 

Writing Jewels

 

 

Published...

Author Joe Konrath said, "There's a word for a writer who never gives up... published." This is what every author, aspiring or successful, essentially wishes, hopes, and desires to happen. They want to be successful at their craft. Possibly even wants the monetary rewards for their labor (I know I do *wink wink*). But, more importantly, I think authors hunger for their idea to be heard. Ultimately, authors want others to devour the idea that has plagued them for months, years, maybe even decades. The countless hours spent developing their idea requires that glorified end result—being published. Aspiring author, Jenn Johansson, said, “This is not an easy industry. This is not an easy profession. And we choose it anyway.” Yes, authors choose this difficult path because of the burning fire within them to craft their idea until it becomes a reality—reality because their idea, published or not, is acutely real to them. The characters are as palpable as their next door neighbor’s dog. The story is alive with blood flowing through its veins. Harry Potter would never have been born if J.K. Rowling never had the idea and never put it on paper. I believe that Harry Potter, Bilbo Baggins, Katniss Everdeen and all the other countless book characters are just as real as we are, only in a figurative sense. The stories are real in the creativity of our minds. This is why authors write their idea until it flourishes into a story. And then they work hard to get it published. Publishing allows the story to not only be alive in the author’s mind, but in all the minds of those who read it.
The process an author goes through is not a perfect science because it does not come easily all the time. However, writing is enjoyable and rewarding when you see your story alive through the ink on a page.
I write this to encourage you to read, but more importantly, when you read, remember the patient process of the author who wrote it. Remember their story lives for you because it lived for them.
I wish, hope, and desire that, one day, the idea for my novel will become just as real for you as it is for me. There is one word I will never cease to work toward… published.