Oh, great
question. I’ve recently had this discussion with a friend of mine who asked me
the other day, “How do you do it?” I’m still in school and on top of that, I
blog and attend extracurricular activities like martial arts and Forensics
Debate. I think the biggest part of staying sane is remaining on ONE project
and ONE project ONLY. As a born
writer—and this is for all of you out there—your mind has a tendency to jump
with inspiration when you’re least expecting it. I know of some people who get
their ideas for novels while showering, others while hiking. The main point is,
we become distracted too easily and the project we’re currently working on
becomes a ‘duty’, rather than an ‘I want to’.
Another key to staying sane is
ignoring the little voice in your head that continuously screams that your
writing isn’t good enough. I call it
i-suck-it is. It’s a pain in the rear, and while some say it’s good every now
and then to tame the ego, I say don’t listen to it! That voice is your
betraying subconscious trying to get you out of fulfilling your dreams. It can
drive you impossibly mad sometimes, but a steadfast writer knows what they want
and will do anything to achieve it, especially conquering that voice. When a
writer develops into an author, that voice becomes harder to ignore since it
then grows to be more of a physical thing—bad reviews. And these are the
absolute worse. A very wise author (R.K. Ryals), whom I consider a mentor, once
told me that publishing a book is like having a baby. And expecting everyone to
love your book is like showing your baby off to the world and anticipating
everyone to consider your child beautiful. In all reality, though, some people
will be harsh enough to tell it to you frankly and you will get a bad remark
that will literally make you want to stop writing as a whole.
And this is where you really have to
push to keep your insanity. Be stubborn as hell. You retrain the sanity only
when you’ve acknowledged your writing as a part of you. And if you can get over
people looking at you and calling you weird, you can get over the ‘wasn’t worth
my time’ and the ‘wasn’t great at all’. Writing is a part of me; it is me! And
If you have to write this over and over again, do it!
Born in New
York City and raised in Pennsylvania, Nadege has traveled to five other states
and two countries, but aspires to travel the world some day. Her name is of
French origin, though she's never been to France. Forever a lover of art and
all things pertaining to Literature, she hopes to obtain knowledge from her
writing career, rather than popularity or fame. She wrote her first story about
aliens and goats in the 8th grade and has had a passion for story-telling ever
since. Her friends and family are her biggest inspiration, and the occasional
cup of coffee. She enjoys being part of the Indie community and sharing her
stories with the world.
I can live with I suck it-is. It's you-suck it-is that really bothers me.
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