At one of the Romance Writer of America (RWA) conferences, I heard a luncheon speaker say something along the lines of most people want to win the lottery and quit their jobs to have fun, but writers want to win the lottery so they can quit their jobs and have more time to write. I'm afraid that while the idea stuck with me, the speaker and which conference she said that at aren't in my memory banks. I don't even have her exact words memorized and I wish I did. I wish I had the speech on recording so that I could listen to that part again and attribute it, but I believe this was before the whole conference CDs--or at least it was before I started buying the whole conference CDs.
Anyway, the idea struck me because it's so true. At least for me--I can't speak for anyone else. All I've ever wanted to do since I was in 8th grade was tell my stories. If I won enough money to quit the Evil Day Job (EDJ), I'd do it in a heartbeat so that I could spend more time writing. I have so many stories and so little time! (And more keep coming all the time.)
When I was in college and worked part time, I used to tell people my dream was to not work. The women in my office (all older) were appalled. You don't want to work? But you'd be so bored. And I'm thinking to myself bored? How would I ever be bored?
Bored is sitting at a desk, doing a job that doesn't require any imagination or thought. Bored is getting up at the same time every day, leaving the house at the same time, working the same hours every day, leaving the office at the same time every day, getting home at the same time, going to bed around the same time, and then getting up the next morning to do it all again. Now that's boring.
And that's what I'm doing, going to my boring EDJ when I'd rather be home writing. When I write, I'm in different worlds and nothing is routine. Right now I'm writing about a demon slayer found guilty of murder...by the demons. :-) This will be coming out from Nocturne Bites in the first quarter of 2010. Before this, I was working on a story about a hero who is a deckhand on a charter fishing boat, and before that I was writing about a magical troubleshooter with PTSD. There's never time to be bored.
So Dear Publisher's Clearing House. I know I haven't entered your contest. I also don't buy lottery tickets, but would you please show up at my house on Super Bowl Sunday with the big check? I really need to write full time and not be bored senseless at my EDJ. Thank you.
