As stated previously I’m gearing up to write an ongoing serialized urban fantasy ‘soap opera’. It will be a LARGE canvas mixing up a lot of 1990s urban fantasy influences (Buffy, Angel, Highlander, the White Wolf World of Darkness RPGs, etc.) My Muse is excited about the project and wants to write it. I want to write it.
On the other hand, there’s that negative voice in my head. The critical one that starts telling me nasty things trying to dissuade me from even starting. Things like:
“You’ll be tied to doing just this one story. You’ll never get to work on any of those other writing projects you want to do.”
“You’ll get burned out after a month and quit.”
“You’ll suck at it. You’ll lose any audience you may have built up until now and drive off any future audience you might have developed.”
“You’ll never make any money at this. Most authors never make $1000 in their entire careers. You’ll trash your finances and end up homeless.”
Normally I can whack that negative voice with a metaphorical stick and make it shut up. But this time around it is being LOUD and persistent. No matter how many times I whack it, the voice just ignores it and keeps going.
I think the problem is because I’m putting pressure on myself to make this work. I’m making it IMPORTANT. I feel like I need to succeed because if I don’t I won’t get any more chances to make something else work.
That isn’t a winning mindset. I need to drop back, take a deep breath, and come at this from a different perspective. Instead of being IMPORTANT, this should be FUN. If my Muse is having fun, and I’m having fun, the audience will most likely be having fun too. If the audience is having fun then everything else will work out.
That is what I need to keep in mind. If I can keep that in the forefront of my brain then I can probably keep that negative voice in check and quiet.
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