The writer's dilemma

You might as well know it, if you don’t already: there’s tension between the writer’s need to connect with his or her fans – through, say, oh, I don’t know, blogs? – and the writer’s need to make money.

You can clearly see which end of the dilemma I’ve been coming out on lately.

The problem is, blogging uses up pretty much the same sorts of resources as fiction writing does, including time. And I’ve been strapped for those lately, what with deadline pressures. Which I’m not yet out from under, although I can sort of see clear sky now. Sort of.

I really appreciate that you read this blog. Thank you. It’s rather flattering that people are interested enough to keep tabs on me. The last thing I want to dso is discourage that.

The last thing I can afford to do is divert energy and focus from the paid writing.

And I have to be honest: letting everything else go in my life does not automatically equate to getting more real writing done. I wish it did. Writing gratifies me more than pretty much anything else I do in life; yet often I find it hardest to do the things which reward me the most.

If I whine here, feel free to ignore it. The solutions I have to work out for myself – and, harder, actually implement. Since I’m whining (you’re ignoring this now anyway,  right?) I’ll go ahead and vent my frustration that after banging my head against the problem of avoiding pleasure for years, I still don’t seem to be breaking through.

Damn it anyway.

Still, I’ll persevere. One thing I’ll say for myself: that’s what I do.

If you had the perseverance to keep checking back until you find this … thank you. I will make it worth your while, both here and with my fiction.