What do you need right now?

[Bru]

OMG - I just noticed.  I'm a HERO!   Aint never been one of those before   

[Gyppo]

Welcome to the Hero Club, Bru ;-)

Seems The Stranglers were wrong

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=W4pkNcE8nsM

[Bru]

Yeh - what do they know!   

[ROFL]

I need a beer.
Oh, I have a beer.
OK, Im good....Do you do pizza?


Rod

[Spell Chick]

I need to get over my fear. I have no idea if I'm afraid of failure, or possibly afraid of success. If I actually get what I want, then my writing will be a job. Right now, my writing is fun. My writing is for me and a few people who see what I spew out.

BUT, if I got what I think I might want, then it would become a grind. Something else I have to do.
Although, in reality, there is nothing else I have to do.

PS to the young and overtaxed. I used to listen to my mother complain about having too much time on her hands. She was looking for something to do. I thought she was nuts. Too all those looking for more time. Be careful what you wish for. You might get it.

[Gyppo]

I need to get over my fear. I have no idea if I'm afraid of failure, or possibly afraid of success. If I actually get what I want, then my writing will be a job. Right now, my writing is fun. My writing is for me and a few people who see what I spew out.

BUT, if I got what I think I might want, then it would become a grind. Something else I have to do.

Patti,

If you get a regular paid outlet for your history essays - especially if syndicated across a whole range of newspapers/magazines then yes, it will become a job.  It can be a bit daunting the first few times when you realise a hobby/pleasure has become a job.

But presumably you will still be researching new stuff as well and writing that up too.  So you will still be doing what you have loved doing for the last three years or so.  The joy of hunting down lesser known facts and making them fit your self imposed limit won't change.  Your apprenticeship with RGQ will stand you in good stead.  The only real difference will be you are getting paid for stuff you would willingly do for nothing anyway.  Reaping a harvest for what you did erlier.

Non-fiction writers are the hunter-gatherers of writing.  They wander through life seeking out stuff which is already there and bring it home to share with others.   It's a good honest trade.

Novelists are more like farmers.  They plant seeds, nurture them, and hope for a bumper crop.  Sometimes it works, sometimes the result is more like the California Dustbowl.  Especially - extending the dustbowl metaphor - if they try to get too much out of one plot ;-)

Gyppo 

[Nelodra]

It can be a bit daunting the first few times when you realise a hobby/pleasure has become a job.

You bet!
(Even though I'm not Patti.  )

Until recently I never earned a cent with my writing, and I wrote just for pleasure. For me.
Then I got discovered. Gulp! Not in my preferred genre. Not even in fiction, but as a technical writer. Web Development.

I'll tell you guys a secret: I know zilch about web development. Well, next to nothing, and all I know is self-taught. So, I do some web design, and muck around a bit with Blogger templates (just created a new one yesterday) but it's really not all that super.

Anyways... I'm writing articles now. On web development and home education (that's more my niche, thank goodness!). I get them published and get paid for them.

And if all goes according to plan, I'll have my first book out early next year.

It's nice, and it's frightening.
Some days I feel on top of the world, and other days I just want to stay in bed and hide under the blankets. What if...

Oh man! I've been on disability for all of my adult life, and now that I'm finally earning some money, I'm scared silly. I want to be able to make a living from my writing (not nearly there yet), but what if things go wrong? What if I loose my allowance and then find out that I'm unable to produce enough stuff people will actually want to pay me for?

So... on top of getting more organised, I'll also need courage. A lot of that!

[Spell Chick]

Nelodra,

I would glandly lend you some courage, but it seems I'm fresh out of the commodity myself. 

I can send you best wishes and revel in your delight on those good days. I'm proud of you. I can't believe the amount of courage it took to get this far. I bet you aren't really low on the product, you just tucked it away somewhere and forgot where.

That doesn't sound right. "Hey, you're stupid, not scared!"
But the concept holds true. You ARE brave, have been brave, and I wish you every continued success.

Patti

[Nelodra]

Aw, thanks, Patti.

That's really nice of you to say. 

[CoreyBlake]

Thank you to all who have responded to this question.  Such an amazing variety of aspirations and fears as well as a few wise-crackers.
: - )
I appreciate the candor with which many of you replied.
If I can ever be of any help to anyone, I hope you'll ask.
Wishing you all the best for a happy and healthy holiday,
Corey

[DGSquared]

Am I too late to say I could use a back rub and some grant writing experience?

I also (still) need to polish the final draft of my "baby" and rewrite that cover letter. Then I'll have no excuse to delay sending it out there to be scrutinized and, well, I procrastinate because I fear.... what? What exactly do I fear? That my big dreams, great ideas, charm, and energy, may not pan out or pay off the way I want them too? Silly.

No. I think I could use a swift kick in the pants. Then, I'll take the back rub.

[Gyppo]

Consider yourself firmly kicked with a size ten...

Now, let's start with that tight spot just under the shoulder blades, both together with a deep releasing thumb pressure, and then use all the fingers to ease that pair of matching steel bars running from your neck down into your shoulders. PING!  Bloody hell, I can feel the tension letting go there.

Now let's get the thumbs working either side of the spine, with that clever alternate pressure from side to side which tricks all those little locked vertebrae into letting go, one little click at a time.

Ooh, you poor thing, you sound like a pair of castanets.  Back to the nape of the neck and start again.  You'll soon feel better.  No point in just rubbing when the underlying structure is locked nearly solid.  That's why the higher primates have opposable thumbs, to undo the knots.

Gyppo says "Relax."

[eric]

I've been wondering why people seem to think you're such a genius, Gyp, and I think that last post of yours really provides a big part of the answer.  You're available for hire, then?

Speaking of what I need, I need a huge dose of reality check.  But that is nothing new.

[Annmarie]

I need more sleep. I need a 3-year-old who doesn't want to play at 2 a.m. and 5 a.m. like clockwork.

I need to organize my fiction  v. nonfiction writing time better.

I need a housekeeper and cook.

I need an agent.

Annmarie

[ma100]

Gyppos hands. Can you send them in the post please?