4.04.2011

Call it a Calling

These are (paraphrased) things people have told me (erica) about their decision to become an author:

It's a calling. I can't imagine doing anything else.

If I can't write, I can't breathe. They're the same thing.

This is what I was born to do.

I've written ten books this year and hope to write ten more next year.

These are other (paraphrased) things people have told me (erica) about their decision to become an author:

I've read some great books over the years and thought maybe I could do that, too.

I wrote a book and am committed to making it the best it can be, no matter how long it takes.

This is harder than I thought it would be.

I write when I can, but other things have to come first in my life.

Me? I breathe much more easily than I write. I've written one complete book and - for reasons I could take millions of years to explain, but that would just be wasting time - a bunch of semi-completed books. I want to be published, I really, really do. That said, it's more of a job for me than a calling. I WORK to make those words come out. And when they do, I WORK to make them better. I research and read and edit and revise and rewrite and, well, that's where I am.

I believe in the Call, it just hasn't happened to me. You?

(Hey, all. It's me, Christy.  So muCh for the short and sweet post eriCa had going.  Sorry.  I feel like my writing is a Calling.  It's what I want to do all day, every day even though I'm really supposed to be doing so many other things instead.  It's what I love most (besides being with my family, of Course) to do.  (Don't tell my Colleagues and students, please.  I love them, too.  I'm just not as driven to be with them.  They don't fill my mind every seCond of every day like all things writing do.)


for our daily Challenge:


When I was about 13, I read the novel Remember Me by Christopher Pike.  It stayed with me long enough that I was eCstatiC to find it again this past summer.  I bought it and reread it.  So, here it is for you today as our C author.  Go here to see a post/book review I wrote on this book a little while baCk.



(Today's post SO Could have been on the Conference we are attending this Friday-Sunday and are totally biting our nails down prepping for.  Prayers and well wishes/advice welcomed.  Thanks.)

12 comments:

  1. A compulsion? It didn't start that way but the more I write the more it feels that way. But it's still a choice on how I want to spend my creative energy, because it has to be spent somehow or I'd go crazy.

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  2. Thanks for showing us two sides of the same coin. For me, sometimes it's a compulsion and sometimes it's work, but I can't imagine not being a part of this world, and not reading and writing all the time.

    Can't wait to hear about the conference and the BIG Meeting!

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  3. I feel called in a way to write- its like a story spindles itself inside me and I have to write it down.

    I adore Christopher Pike!

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  4. I've been pretty open about this here, as well as just about everywhere else, but basically, I HATE to write. I'll do anything else first: the laundry, dishes, yard work, go hiking, biking, you name it.

    So even though I have a self-pubbed novel out, spent three years as a newspaper columnist, and maintain a biweekly blog, I have never felt "called" to write, and I'm pretty sure that it's not my calling. But should Oprah, or a publisher, ever call, that could change in a heartbeat!

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  5. Love the new look of the blog.

    For me, writing is the best part of my day. It is the only part that belongs just to ME.

    Yes it is work. And yes, I would be lost without it.

    I have always written (since I was small) and I will always write.

    Shelley

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  6. Erica, Christy - love your new look, so bright and breezy!

    I used to think Farming is my calling. With so much work I think it's more like work.

    Grandpa
    Life on The Farm

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  7. I agree - it's a chore and a challenge (and yes, probably a compulsion), but not a calling.

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  8. Definitely a compulsion for me. Now anything ARTISTIC is my calling. I design, illustrate, paint, draw, would love to compose music some day, and I've probably done ever craft known to man. Well, almost all. I mean like, candle making, stain glass windows, pottery, etc.

    So now it's writing. This is no hobby ... (sorry Erica for the ellipses) THIS IS WORK!

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  9. I devoured that book multiple times. :)

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  10. It is absolutely my calling. If I don't write I'm impossible to live with! LOL! I remember that book by Christopher Pike, loved it!

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  11. Compulsion is a great word!! Thanks for commenting, everyone, it's great to learn more about what makes you tick!!
    erica

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  12. I'm with you. I love writing, but I haven't heard a call. And it's definitely work.

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