Best Thing About Being a Writer – Jeffrey Eugenides – Oprah.com

November is National Novel Writers Month and one of the festivities is the challenge that we aspiring authors write a novel in 30 days. We start Nov. 01, 2009 at midnight and finish Nov. 30, 2009 at midnight. The word count goals is 50, 000. To reach that goal, we must write 1667 words per day. As November 1st draws nearer and anticipation and apprehension fight for my attention, I scour the Internet daily for writing advice and news. An author, Jeffrey Eugenides, is on Oprah.com, and the quote that he gave made me pause:

“We work in the dark—we do what we can—we give what we have. Our doubt is our passion and our passion is our task. The rest is the madness of art.” Henry James

Writing is such a solitary occupation…especially writing  novels. Jeffrey mentions that writers are always starting from scratch, and that is true. Toni Morrison talked about the melancholy she felt after finishing “The Bluest Eyes” until she got the idea for “Sula”.  Since I have yet to publish a work of fiction, I never think about AFTER I’m published, but reading these authors’ thoughts gives me an idea that it’ll be like the adrenaline rush you feel at the top of a huge water slide and the disappointment you feel when you reach the bottom and the ride is over. Why would anyone choose such an unsteady, tumultuous, solitary, and sometimes unrewarding occupation? My answer to that question is that I didn’t choose writing. It chose me. If you know an aspiring author or freelance writer, encourage them.

You can find all of Jeffrey Eugenides’ advice along with other writers, such as Toni Morrison, at:

Best Thing About Being a Writer – Jeffrey Eugenides – Oprah.com.

Comic credit: Debbie Ridpath Ohi