Goals and Managing Expectations

Just got back from another great writing group session. It's one thing to get together and critique each other's work, but it's another to get together and peer pressure each other into putting words on a paper. I was raised Roman Catholic so there's no greater motivator than guilt!

Anyway, we were having a discussion about writing (SHOCKER) and making a living as one. I mean... that is RARE. Even Brandon Sanderson has a day job. 

I had already come to the realization a while ago, however, that this was okay. I'm writing because I love it, because I think I'm decent at it, and because I want to share my stories with the world. I figure I'll always have to have a day job. It would be sweet to someday not, but I doubt it. 

Wouldn't that be fucking wonderful though? Waking up with the sun, making coffee, and then sitting down to write? No distractions, no boss, no phone calls, no emails... Just the sun, some caffeine, and getting my work down on paper. The closest I've gotten to that was last Christmas when I decided to have a stay-cation. Took a week off work, holed up at my house, and just wrote. It was amazing. Nothing else mattered. I would love that feeling again, someday, for a whole lot longer. 

That's what I'm going to keep striving for. Maybe someday I will be able to just write. Maybe someday I will be able to quit my day job. 

Quizas, quizas, quizas...