Confusing Times Call for More Dedicated Writers by Nevada McPherson

Confusing Times Call for More Dedicated WritersLet’s welcome back monthly columnist Nevada McPherson as she shares with us “Confusing Times Call for More Dedicated Writers.” Enjoy!

***

It’s been a difficult year for all of us. If you’re wondering how your writing fits into everything that’s going on, the answer is that it’s more important than ever. 

In trying to make sense of it all, you’ll find answers that others are looking for and that is why this is no time to take your foot off the gas. 

It’s easy to wonder how your voice matters when there’s so much trouble in the world, and when other voices may seem loud and shrill, but it’s times like these that we must stay focused on our work, both those unfinished projects and the projects yet to take shape. 

Dedicated Writers 

I’m still editing and finishing up some scenes for the novel I’ve been working on since NaNoWriMo last November. 

I thought I’d have a full rough draft by the end of that month but that was just the beginning. 

I didn’t exactly know what I was getting into even though I had an outline, but now that I’m in it, I’m more determined than ever to see it through and to make it the best work I’ve done so far in my life. It means that much to me? You’re &%$# right, it does!

The truth is, the real genesis of this project goes all the way back to 2000 and has taken shape over the last year in ways that I’ve never imagined. 

When I think about how far it’s come, I realize that I wasn’t ready to realize its scope and potential back then. It took my going through some really hard times to even be able to write it now. 

I’ve learned far more about myself and others and about life itself. When I find myself wondering why I didn’t do more to bring it into being before, I finally understand that it’s because now is when it’s meant to be written. 

Some things happen only when they’re supposed to. 

To fret or second-guess about the past is a counterproductive waste of time. And time is of the essence when you’re meant to tap into the energy of the collective unconscious that is seeking expression through your work! 

Dedicate To Your Writing 

If you’re participating in NaNoWriMo this year, or even if you’re not, this is your year! 

If you’re now revising a project that until recently has been sitting on the shelf or in the corner of your computer screen, there is a reason for that. 

In this past year of COVID-19, murky uncertainty and existential angst, let your writing be an anchor for your spirit, a refuge from the storm and the answer to your questions. One day it will be those things for someone else who reads it. 

Just like there are books, magazines, and saved articles that you have at home and one day you pick them up or happen to log in, read them, and they provide whatever it is you were looking for, someone will come across your work at just the right time. 

That is when you will be the provider, and when, whether you know it or not, you will be fulfilling your purpose as a writer and a chronicler of the age: this confusing, amazing, bewildering, never-before-lived age we are in right now

Your work is waiting. Get to it.

***

Want to read more articles like this one Writer’s Fun Zone? Subscribe here.

***

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Nevada McPhersonOriginally from Georgia, Nevada McPherson lived in uptown New Orleans for many years and now lives with her husband Bill and rescue Chihuahua, Mitzi in Milledgeville, GA where she is a professor of Humanities at Georgia Military College. Nevada received a BA in English/ Creative Writing and an MFA in Screenwriting from Louisiana State University-Baton Rouge. She’s written over a dozen feature-length screenplays, one short screenplay, a short play, short stories and two graphic novels, Uptowners and Piano Lessons. Queensgate, the sequel to Uptowners, is her third graphic novel. For more information, visit www.nevada-mcpherson.com.

You may also like...

>