Murphy’s Law is playing havoc with me this month. Besides the head cold and the bunged up toe I mentioned earlier, I now now have another injury. On Thanksgiving Day I waged battle with a maple sapling that had the temerity to spring up 6 inches from the house and hyperextended my elbow. Ouch! On the National Novel Writing Month front, I have 39,000 words, so if I want to reach the goal, I need to write 11,000 more by Friday night. And holiday activities are ramping up. Sigh…

I am so fried that only my trusty To Do List saved me from missing my Wednesday blog post. I don’t know what I’d do without my list. I started doing really elaborate day-by-day To Do Lists a few years ago when I realized my short term memory, never particularly good, was totally GONE.

My To Do List is depressingly mundane, including such exciting items as “buy fish food” and “clean vaporizers”. Occasionally I try to add something more interesting, like “try out Shrimp Pad Thai recipe”. Still lame, I know!

I’d rather think about what my To Do List would be like if I were a Regency heroine in her HEA.

It might include “Ride through the countryside on my well-bred hack.”

If the weather was not cooperating, maybe it would be “embroider some pretty face screens”. (I wouldn’t be one of those heroines who despise needlework–I truly do enjoy it.)

Or maybe “practice the harp”. (OK, I don’t know how to play the harp but I definitely would if I lived during the Regency. While we’re fantasizing, I’d also be as slim as the lady depicted here.)

Or perhaps, “walk with my husband on our extensive grounds”. (‘Walk’ being a euphemism for benefit of any servant who might catch sight of my list. Not that the servants wouldn’t guess but they would be so very well-trained as to never, ever intrude.)

So before we head back to harsh reality…

Have you ever had a Calamity Jane month?

Is there anything interesting on your To Do List?

What would be on there if you lived in the Regency?

And do you think I have a prayer of reaching 50,000 words by midnight Friday???

Elena
www.elenagreene.com

I am covered with embarrassment that I forgot to announce what will be the next movie we’re discussing in the Jane Austen Movie Club!

I’m so sorry! (And I also apologize to Janet, for posting this on her day without asking first!)

We will discuss the 2005 version of PRIDE AND PREJUDICE, the one with Keira Knightley and Matthew Macfadyen. And the discussion will be on Tuesday, December 4 — always the first Tuesday of the month.

I now return you to your regularly scheduled Riskiness…

Cara

Last week I blogged about the fun of doing amateur art, music, theatre, etc… without the pressure of making a career of it. Risky friend Susan Wilbanks commented that she enjoys singing, but though she has not yet sold a novel, her writing is not a hobby. I know what she means and I definitely don’t think it’s publication that separates the amateur writer from the professional.

It’s harder to put my finger on the difference, though.

There are people in Romance Writers of America who believe that membership in the organization confers professionalism. But some have been members for a decade or more, write sporadically or not at all and have not completed or submitted a manuscript. So I don’t think declaring oneself a professional is enough.

Part of it is that the pro seeks payment for her art (and that’s where finishing and submitting come in). She will take her craft seriously and strive to create work worthy of publication.

But it’s not just money either. Here’s what Steven Pressfield (THE WAR OF ART) says about the difference between the amateur and the professional: “The word amateur comes from the Latin root meaning ‘to love’. The conventional interpretation is that the amateur pursues his calling out of love, while the pro does it for money. Not the way I see it. In my view, the amateur does not love the game enough. If he did, he would not pursue it as a sideline, distinct from his ‘real’ vocation. The professional loves it so much he dedicates his life to it. He commits full-time.”
To me this quote feels a bit derogatory to the amateur (though perhaps it wasn’t intended that way). Nor do I think one has to write full time to be a professional. But I do believe it is about commitment. Being an amateur is like dating while being a pro is like marriage. One can walk away from a hobby but a true professional hangs in there.

Some writers say one should write every day. I agree with that in principle but I also suspect the ones who say that have wives to deal with sick kids and household disasters. I agree with a married, working friend of mine who once said there were times she wished she had a “wife”. 🙂

Whether or not one writes every day–or even takes occasional breaks from the writing–I do think it’s important to come up with goals (which can be modest) and a schedule (which doesn’t have to be anything like 9-5) and stick to it. At one point I was working a “regular job” 3 days a week and had a young baby. I wrote during her naps (when they happened) on my two days off and on Wednesday evenings and Sunday afternoons when my husband was able to babysit. The hours were erratic, but I showed up and did my best. LORD LANGDON’S KISS was the result.

So anyway, this is what I’ve come up with so far. A professional writer is one who strives to improve her mastery of the craft, one who sets goals and shows up for work even if she’s not in the mood.

What do you think makes a professional writer?

Elena
www.elenagreene.com