The Creative Process

Sometimes, I envy the people who want to be lawyers. Or the people who want to be doctors. Or the people who are happy studying business or economics or science or something else that can lead them to getting well respected jobs and earning crap tons of cash. I envy the people who were never told, "Oh, neat, you want to be a CEO! But what else?"

When it comes to a job like that, there is no "what else". You go to school, you make connections, you get a job. The process is simple. "Simple" doesn't necessarily mean "easy", of course--if it was easy then everyone would do it. What I mean is that, generally, there's a certain set path for achieving these things--it's not concrete, and people vary from it all the time, but nobody is ever left on the front step of their high school the day after graduation without a clue as to where to go next. 

That's how I felt for a long time--heck, I still feel that way sometimes. Like someone dropped me in the middle of a forest and told me to find my own way back--sure, I'll get there eventually. I just have no clue how, because, hello, you didn't think to give me a map, asshole.

In just about every author interview I've read / watched / listened to, there is at least--at least--one question asked about their process. "What's a typical day in your life?" "Where do you get your ideas?" "What's your process like?" I can't blame people for asking these questions--I want to know, too. Last year, when I was struggling to figure out exactly where I should be, what role I should play, how to go about this incredibly complex career path, I spent a lot of time reading author bios. I'd pick books off my shelf and read the "About the Author" blurb at the back, I'd visit official author websites and blogs, I'd scour over those very same interviews I just mentioned.

You know what I was looking for? A manual. A master plan, a grand "How To", a sign so I could tell whether my approach was right or incredibly wrong. I like to follow instructions, but that's pretty damn hard when I have no instructions to follow.

But the thing is, there really isn't one, and trying to find one will just confuse you even more. This profession has no required credentials, but for every writer who didn't go to school there's another who did and insists that it's valuable. There's no real "right" way to craft your stories; some people who preach the act of writing every day, and there are some who scoff at the idea entirely. Even publication itself isn't simple--you can get a literary agent, or represent yourself; you can publish with a professional publishing house, or do it yourself online; self publishing can be done exclusively online or through an independent printing press....IT'S JUST TOO MUCH.

I'm willing to bet that just about every author behind every book that's sitting on your shelf right now got to where they are in a drastically different way. It's super intimidating, and scary, because how the hell am I supposed to know if I'm doing it right?

But that's the beauty of it, too. It brings a certain excitement to the table, because the possibilities are literally endless. It's overhwelming, sometimes, the amount of decisions I have to make and the number of options I have on the table in front of me. But if my biggest problem is that I have too many options, I think I'm doing pretty good.

I mean, people are still expecting a "realistic" career choice out of you, so what have you really got to lose, anyhow?

Until later,

- Justyne