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Today I'm going in a different direction. I would like to start a conversation here about where to put our writing energies. I know we have different goals and projects - but I also am guessing that everyone has been faced with having to make decisions about what to write, when, where. I am also interested in what non-writer creative types have to say on this issue, as well. I know my partner, who is - among other things - a visual artist, has to make decisions about what medium to use, what venues will further her goals as an artist and what will feed her creative fire. I imagine that dancers, musicians, playwrights - anyone who creates - has choices at one time or another.
Let me know.
Let's have a conversation.
My writer friend, Christi Craig, addressed this issue when looking at the feeding and care of her blog. You can read her post at Writing Under Pressure.
My thoughts and questions are below: please post your thoughts as a comment, or email me directly!
Part A: Does anyone have any experience with - or knowledge about, know someone whose done - Bright Hub, or similar online sites? Here are a couple of links for the "seeking writers" and the main
BrightHub.
I've seen some of these sites, or searches for writers, before; this one just came up on WOW as searching for writers.
Part B: This is more a theoretical discussion - or the business of writing discussion - about where to put our writerly energies. Related to the above question, yes, but also in general.
Related to these online "hubs" (and there are a bunch of them) - is it worth one's time to write posts?
As a fiction and memoir/creative non-fiction writer (guess I should throw poetry in there, too!), is it worth my time to do some journalistic writing? Or will it be a detraction from the writing I like to do and the projects I have in process?
One "Plus" is that it *might* generate some income. And, certainly, I would like to get some income from my writing. And the paying markets for fiction are highly competitive. Maybe doing what I'm doing (interpreting) is the best route for income generation, rather than doing writing that is fine, but not where my energies are when I write. I like to write stories and memoir and overheard stories (are those memoir or fiction? *grin* - honestly, they become fiction when I write them because I have to fill in the missing details and I often change some of the exact details because I wouldn't want to be labeled as snoopy; or am I just being observant?).
One "negative" is, as I just said, writing the articles could detract from the other writing. If I'm spending a lot of time generating content for a website that I could use for writing -- where is the balance?
Does that type of writing give me energy to write or steal it? Is there the danger that that type of writing become the same as other jobs and diminish - or, shock, even ruin - my pleasure with writing?
What do you think?
Or, does anyone know of an independent wealth stream I can join that does not involve pyramids, uplines, money orders to foreign countries, or otherwise taking advantage of people? :-)
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ReplyDeleteThanks for the mention :)
You raise some great questions. I don't know much about the kinds of sites like Bright Hub. I think that type of writing - along with any kind of journalistic writing - requires a lot of knowledge and skill in query writing (which I don't have).
Like you, I'd love to get paid for writing, and the types of ventures you mention seem more promising. But, I feel like I should first take a class on queries for magazines and such. Christina Katz offers a few great ones: http://homepage.mac.com/katzcreative/comm/classes.htm
Without some help in that area, I think I would be wasting my limited writing time.
Though, maybe as I grow and become more comfortable and confident, I'll find time and inspiration to submit essays to magazines.
I completely agree about the magazine article writing: queries and all of that. So much to learn and so, so much time required. I hear there are actually writers who enjoy that part of it. *smile*
ReplyDeleteIt was your post that first prompted me to think about how I define myself as a writer. A short time later someone else made a distinction, during an unrelated conversation, between fiction writers and journalistic writers, and especially with novelists. I realized that, despite my earlier work and training in journalism, what I really like to do is write stories: fiction, creative non-fiction, memoir, and sometimes non-fiction essays.
Thanks for posting the Katz resource, too. That's a good one.
I think that's one of the appeals of the 'hubs' in the cyberworld - no need for queries for each article and all of that - but I'm skeptical. It sounds too much like other "easy money" proposals; or else the you-get-out-what-you-put-in, meaning, to get more income you need to put out more time.
Since I'm embracing my fiction/memoir/creative non-fiction/novelist identity (with dips into the poetry pool, of course), I question the practicality of article writing.
But, still ...
...thinking...
Thank you for your thoughts, Christi!