Week four in the MFRW fifty-two week blog challenge posts an interesting question. What would I do with myself, if I couldn’t be a writer?
I’ve written elsewhere about my journey from sales and marketing in a large corporation to writer of fiction and non-fiction; from large corporate teams to working pretty much by myself. Chronic pain in my hands makes any typing painful, and impossible after several minutes without a break. Constant fatigue and brain fog make it difficult to focus and concentrate. Some might think writing a poor career choice under the circumstances! 😛
If you are interested you can read about my writing process here
In fact I often tell people, I didn’t choose to write as much as writing chose me.
Back to the question. If I couldn’t be a writer, what would I do with myself. It’s a difficult question to answer, as I’m limited in what I can do.
DragonDictate for Mac is behaving so badly at the moment I’ve considered throwing the towel in a number of times. They released version 6 which was meant to replicate all of the functionality that the Windows version has enjoyed for some time, but unfortunately it has not worked from day one. At least it doesn’t work consistently. Yesterday I uninstalled and reinstalled again, and at the moment dictation is working for me… Wait for a moment while I touch wood.
Luckily we have a few wooden bookcases behind my writing desk 😀
The point is, I’ve considered ceasing writing, but instead I’ve fiddled with the application and worked on other methods to still get the words down.
I enjoy lots of crafts, but if something stop me from writing, then it would probably stop me from doing crafts as well.
A return to full health could mean a return to full-time employment (and to a career I did very much enjoy) and that could curtail my writing time. But a return to full health is extremely unlikely.
In summary, I’m going to be a writer until something happens that stops me from writing!
I can absolutely see myself like Barbara Cartland writing books until I’m 104 – probably not romance novels, though I’m steadily adding more romance into my stories 🙂
I haven’t really answered the question have I. What would I do if I couldn’t be a writer? I guess the answer is, I don’t know, because I can’t imagine it.
I’m interested to read the authors answers to this question. You can Click here to see them too 🙂
Don’t know is an acceptable, honest answer. Hope your dictation software stops acting up on you.
I hope it does too Meka! It’s working at the moment… I’m glad I work at a wooden desk 😛
Great post! I use Dragon Naturally Speaking for PC. Sometimes the misheard dictated words are as funny/shocking as auto correct on my phone, but overall I love it. When I can use it, I can get 10K words a day if I am on a roll. The biggest downside though is that I need quiet in the background in order to use it. That doesn’t happen often.
BTW, your books look interesting!!
Thank you Ellie 🙂 I use Dragon NaturallySpeaking for PC at work and I find it so much more reliable and consistent than Dragon for Mac. The misheard dictated words lead to such funny texts and emails if you don’t check carefully! I’m lucky I often have a quite background, so if it’s working I can be really productive. Thank you so much for commenting on my books 🙂
LOL….I think I’ll still be writing on my deathbed…..or else have my family hire a ghost writer for any unfinished wips….
Maybe I’ll put that in my will???
Kim, your determination to find a way to write is inspiring. Hope the Dragon for Mac software keeps working. Surely there will be a new update soon to fix the problems, she said hopefully.
Kenzie, great idea about putting the ghost writer provision in the will! Love it.
I’m hopeful too Linda! Thank you 🙂 I am quite determined 😀 writing is one of the few things I can do.
That is a fabulous idea Kenzie – first funds to come out of the estate should definitely be for a ghostwriter!