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| Wishes do come true. |
Yesterday I've read this post, and it inspired me to say something on the subject of the wishes.
Wishes do come true.
There's a catch, though. They don't come true out of the blue; you do have to do some work. You also have to be careful what you wish for.
My wish was to be able to survive from writing. I was told it was impossible to do in Serbia, small country, small language, there's no money in it... And yet, I've managed to do exactly that. For seven years, I've been writing for a living (it ended about a year ago). My wish did come true.
However, there was work involved. When choosing University, I've chosen to study dramaturgy (writing for theater, for television, screenplays...), because, at the time, it was the only place in my country where I could learn about writing, where I would be required to write and the professors and other students would read it. In terms of money, it was not a profitable choice; in terms of later employment, it almost guaranteed I would stay unemployed. But writing was my wish.
After getting my diploma, it was working this and that, applying here and there, until I started getting contracts to write. When I did start getting contracts, since the pay was low, it meant I had to write a LOT. Day after day, week after week, month after month. If I wanted to go to a vacation, no problem -- I just had to write all that stuff in advance (think being required to write about 100 articles per month, every single month, and doing it in considerably less than a month if you wanted to go to a vacation). But hey, my wish to write for a living did come true.
That is, my wish to be able to survive from writing -- now we come to the be careful what you wish for part. I was able to survive, yes. If I worked as much as I said, I was able to survive. There was no getting rich, popular, famous, there was surviving.
I'm not complaining. I got my wish, and I loved it. I didn't want to get rich, famous, popular, I just wanted to be able to survive from writing, and that is exactly what I got.
So I can tell, from my own experience, that wishes do come true. It's not easy, and the outcome of the wish might surprise you, but they do come true, and give you a great ride.
11 comments:
Congratulations, Ivana. Anyone who loves writing and is able to make a living at it is lucky. Double cheers to you for doing so in your country, where I know it is more difficult.
Well done!
Thank you! I hope I'll be able to repeat it someday again, preferably for good. :)
Must be that you asked to survive based on what everyone else was saying and therefore, you believing it couldn't offer you more than that? All too often, when we tell others of our dreams or wishes, they will have opinions to share and their thoughts filter into how we think and channels our ways of seeing the outcome, if not careful.
Careful next time, Ivana. I'd love to read of you writing where you will live QUITE comfortably. I wish that for you and myself.
I wish that too, Totsy!
It could be that my wish to survive had something to do with a romantic picture of a struggling writer. However, being older than I used to be, I'd be happy to exchange THAT sort of romantic for something more comfortable. :)
I'm all for being a THRIVING writer. I don't need a golden commode - but I would like a Jacuzzi tub, and the wherewithal to earn a healthy living by spending 8 hours a day or less on writing and promotion.
Dreams are never what we think they should be once we realize them, often, they are more. It's the 'more' that we come to appreciate over time, or even later. What you've accomplished is something to be proud of, it's made you strong and given you a foundation some of us are still working on.
@Beverly: same here.
@brenda: yes, the 'more' turns out to be quite interesting and enriching.
What a wonderful post. I think most writers write because they love it! But it's bonus when you can make a living doing it.
Thank you, Rena. I write because I love it, and because I couldn't live without it; making a living doing it means I wouldn't have to do something else in order to survive, I could be writing full-time. :)
Hello, I'm popping over from She Writes. Just want to add my congrats on your having achieved the wish of surviving writing! I agree with Beverly: I'm all for Thriving, too. :)
Hello, Claudine, thanks for dropping by!
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