Storytellersunplugged

I had to give a presentation the other night to a local writers’ guild regarding goal setting as it relates to writing. Now I rarely, if ever, use notes when presenting anything. I know the topic I’m going to speak on, keep a few key points on the subject in my head, then just spout away. I enjoy doing it this way because it gives me the opportunity to feed off the crowd’s energy, change course and tone depending on the body language I see or the comments and questions some folks make. That said, that night was no exception . . . but something odd happened along the way . . .

I started off talking about goals in general, stating things like, “If your goal is to write a book, maybe the first question you should ask yourself is, why? Why do you want to write a book? Just to say you’ve written one? So you can prove something to yourself or your family? Or is your objective to get published? Either reason will require a finished manuscript, but the goals that need to be established to accomplish either might be different due to the established deadline you set for yourself. For example, when do you want the book completed? In a year? Five years? Does a time line even matter to you? If it doesn’t, chances are you’re really not all that serious about writing a book. Without a timeline, vis-à-vis deadline, that doggone book will never get written because you’ll always be able to find an excuse for not writing. Things like, the laundry needs to get done—(although ‘laundry’ at that moment consists of one blouse and a pair of skivvies)—the lawn needs to be mowed . . .twice—that closet’s been cluttered way too long . . .”

Anyway, while I’m yammering away, I see sparks of enlightenment flash in the attendees’ eyes. This goal setting thing is making sense to them. They’re taking notes, smiling, nodding . . . Suddenly something dawns on me, and I ask, “How many of you want to write a book because you want to get published?”

95% of the group raised a hand. Poor babies.

Seeing that, I felt a surge of moral obligation to get them down to the nub of things so they’d be prepared for the inevitable. We talked about the challenges that might be awaiting them…publishers and their antiquated business practices, elusive agents, picky editors, fickle readers, self-marketing, meeting REAL deadlines, the day job most have to maintain along with writing and why, the critics, the reviewers (often not one in the same, but both able to knock your feet out from under you.), the stalkers, the nay-sayers, etc. With all that said, the nub came down to the original question….WHY do you want to write a book? Most of them, still smiling, nodding, even more pumped up than before, answered, “Because I can’t not write one.” Sigh…..

As writers, how many times have we heard that answer from other writers? Knowing what we know, the struggles, the constant, ever-changing challenges that come with this profession, we still write. Like a one-member nomad tribe, we keep plodding through that desert with a skin-bag half-filled with water. We keep pushing on regardless of illness, injury, insults, or ill-payment. To me, the real nub of it all is this…..writers are just a strange lot, and it’s to that end, I’m left to quote Dickens’ infamous Tiny Tim, “God bless us every one!”