Rat Race — I.B. Miller
Oh boy do I miss blogging!
Right about a year ago, I’ve decided to write blogs again. And, I did it.
First, I said that I want to write one blog post each week. And, I did it, for some time.
Then, I decided to write daily blogs. And, I did it, for some time.
Then, I stopped.
Now, I want to write blogs again. Why? I have no idea. What do I want to write about? I have no idea. But, I know what I don’t want to write about. I’m sure not writing about writing. At least not in a preaching or teaching manner. Do I know how to write? I have no bloody clue. But, I love to write and that’s important.
This morning, in the gym, I listened to Joe Rogan’s podcast with Naval Ravicant.
Never heard of the guy before but thanks to YouTube suggestions I bumped into several interesting topics that Joe and him were talking about,(happiness and money) so I decided to listen to the entire episode.
The guy made me think about my life, my writing, everything I do. I can’t remember exactly what triggered these thoughts but I’m quite positive that this train of thoughts came due to something he said on the show.
All these years, I’m trying to write a second (perfect novel), learning about the craft, hero journey, story structure, character building, world building, honing my craft like crazy, and the more I do, the less I enjoy the actual novel writing process and the less I finish things.
I can’t remember the day when I started to write this bloody novel, and I also can tell you how many times have I trashed everything and started all over again.
It feels like a rat race. One day you write, and you’re quite happy with it and then you wake up and realize that everything you’ve written is one giant turd. So, no matter how fast or far you run, you’re always in the sam wheel starting over and over again like some kind of a lunatic.
Einstein once said that an idiot is a person who is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different outcomes. Well, Mr. Einstein, what do you call a person who is doing different things and always getting the same outcome; always getting nothing?
The other thing that is worrying me is this. Look, I love writing. From the very basics, the dumb sound of the keyboard, the ability to connect the thoughts (or not), the ability to paint pictures with words, elicite emotions, tell stories, move people, I love all of it, but I love doing it my own way because that’s the only way in which I’m good at. Whether you like it or not, there is no other way for me.
Then, after I published my first novel, I decided to level things up; to become a professional, to build a career out of it.
Why?
Because, as Mr. Naval said, the best way to live your life and be happy is to do something you love, and I agree with it.
The other reason is because I want freedom. I want to work whenever I want, to write whatever I want, and to dress the way I want and to grow bloody beard. I don’t need a boss who is telling me that I’m making kids uncomfortable because of my beard (or maybe their parents, because the kids never complained), I don’t need someone who is going to tell me when to come to work, what to do and how to do it. I think nobody likes that but we get trapped into the false security of monthly income and we suffer for that little price we get at the end of each month.
I want freedom.
But, wait a minute!
There are all these people telling me how to write, what to write, where to put a death scene, where to put the first kiss, if you write a romance, they need break up at some point, if you write a mystery, you need a dead body (they are mostly right about this one). There are 23 steps that each hero needs to take, there is an X number of scenes which you must write in your novel (obligatory scenes) or your readers will be disappointed.
Well screw you guys! I’m not waking up at 5 in the morning to write a novel by somebody else’s rules. If I’m going to write, I’m going to do it the way I love it. Yes, there are some principles you need to follow.
Actually, it’s only one — be fucking interesing! If you can’t be interesting nobody is going to read your book, and I can’t tell what’s interesting to you, and so does nobody else.
If the way I write things isn’t interesting to anyone, then I should just stop writing. As simple as that.
The other day, someone asked Gaiman on Twitter if they were thinking about Hero’s journey.
Can you guess the answer?
Of course they didn’t think about that.
That’s the other reason I don’t want to give writing advice anymore, especially to people who don’t ask me about that.
If you’d ask me, I might help. Otherwise, you’re on your own. Find your way. Build your way to it. If you read books, you should have a basic image of how a book should look like, so figure your own way of writing it.
That’s my new approach! Find my own way. Same with the blog. I gave up on keywords, clickbait titles, images, narrow niche all that shit. I’m just gonna rant here, and if you don’t like, you don’t read it. Simple as that. If you like it, you read it (I hope you like it, but even if you don’t, who gives a damn!?)
Speaking of niche and writing about writing. I thought that I should write about writing because I’m, you know, a writer. But, screw that, I’m going to write about what I’m thinking. If you follow my blog, you follow my thoughts, you follow me: I.B. Miller. And, I am so much more than a writer. I’m a human being with various interests and on a website which is entitled by my name (fake one, though), I’m going to write whatever the hell I want, and I’m not going to listen to anyone else.
Amen,
Finishing here! Need to go to work. I’m ranting for to long.
P.S. I’m not going to proofread this. Sorry.
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Originally published at https://ibmiller.net on June 14, 2019.
