GBE Week 1: EXPECTATIONS

Marie Anne over at Write, Wrong or Indifferent has another awesome blogfest! This week's topic is EXPECTATIONS. If you'd like to participate, hop on over and sign up. So far, 29 people have!

So, expectations.

As a writer I often find that people have very defined ideas about what I do, which inevitably come with specific expectations.

One that baffles me, and which I encounter far too frequently, is the idea that I am just doodling away my days, have my head in the clouds, and that I don't know the meaning of "real" work. Believe me when I say, that people have actually said this to my face, and seem genuinely perplexed when I try to explain the work involved.

I must admit that this opinion irks me, because as a writer I work incredibly hard and incredibly long at something that is soul-stretching and emotionally tough. I love what I do and wouldn't change it for anything—what other job allows you to create to freely?—but what I do is work. Just because I enjoy it, doesn't mean it's not "real".

In my opinion, work should be pleasurable.

Another expectation I have encountered is that I will copy JK Rowling and automatically be basking in the same success. I can't understand the people who say things like this to me (you'd be surprised). It would be the equivalent of saying to a salesman, 'Oh yes, you're going to do exactly what Alan Sugar did and become rich and famous and have a reality TV show about competing businessmen." And to mean it with utter conviction.

People are different.

There is no set rule.

One writer is not the copy of another.

So why are there so many set expectations tagged to the label "writer"?

Often people are surprised at how focussed I am, expecting me to be dreamy, simple and/or not quite there. Is this the idea that has become associated with writing? A sort of, to use a Harry Potter analogy, Professor Trelawney?

Finally, another expectation I am met with frequently, is the idea that one just bangs out an idea in an afternoon or two, and off you go to the bookshelves. That it is an easy fix, a cop-out, a pot-boiler.

Writing is a craft that takes time. I find that people who don't understand what I do and believe that the first draft gets sent to a magic person behind a desk who then puts glue and a cover on it and hey presto. Easy peasy. So, when I am in revisions, they are perplexed at it. It takes a long time to explain the way that publishing works, about how one must perfect their craft before they can share it with others. About how long everything in the Publishing Industry is.

Then, there are the expectations I place on myself. The expectation that I will perfect the project I am working on until it is the best it can be. I expect myself to be disciplined and passionate. The expectation that if I work long and hard enough, someone will like what they see. The expectation that I will inevitably receive rejections, but too that I will receive requests. The expectation—the hope—that one day I will have my dreams come true, no matter the rocky roads I have to cross.

Such is the nature of being what we are. Such is the life we have chosen and the choices we make daily.

What are your expectations as a writer? Do you expect it to be hard? Easy? Do you expect rejection? Success? What do others expect of you? How do you answer these expectations?

*Hugs* to you all!

<3