W Is For Work

Jennifer talks about her writing career...

I’ve been in a bit of a slump lately, publishing-wise. I’m still writing daily and have several manuscripts in various stages of completion. They will each be done within the next few months. My writing doesn’t stop.

However, my publishing has taken a back seat as I wait to see whether I can reach the next rung or not. I’ve got my agent working on some things, and until I get a definitive answer, I’m holding off on my own submissions.

On bad days, I feel pretty useless. On the rest of the days, I know I just need to exercise patience.

So it was a little disappointing for me to hear my daughter tell me that her friends and her friends’ parent don’t think what I do is actual “work” and certainly shouldn’t prevent me from catering to the needs of the children.

I try not to let people’s careless words bother me. I know what I do is work. Writing requires discipline, stamina and brainpower. It is not for the faint of heart. The fact that I continue writing even when I’m discouraged is proof of that. My ability to juggle many things and still write daily is a pretty impressive accomplishment, if I do say so myself.

Writing is a job with ups and downs. That’s part of its natural flow. Just because I don’t make money unless I publish and people buy my books does not make it less of a job. Just because it’s my choice to do this and I’m trying to fulfill a dream of mine, doesn’t make it less important.

My daughter gets it and she stood up for me. I care less that she stood up for me and more that she does understand, to some extent, what I do. She says she has two parents who work.

One of them writes.

And for me, writing is the work I want to do.