Which Part of Writing Is Work?

[Peg Herring]

I have a glib answer: "None of it. It's all fun." But there's a more serious answer as well. It's all work: the writing, the editing, the shopping, the marketing. None of it is easy. There are times when it's smooth sailing. A story is going well and almost writes itself while I sit and watch. I get 100 pages edited at a sitting, and it feels like it has come together. An editor says nice things about my writing. People call to ask me to talk about my work.

Then there are the other times, when nobody calls and nobody likes anything I've done, including me. That's when it's work to keep going, work to force myself to start on that to-do list and get items checked off, no matter how hopeless it seems. Writing is a strange job, because no one else can write your story, you don't really know when it's finished (maybe never), and yet outside sources judge your success, at least in terms of "Will it sell?"

The intrinsic part of writing makes it a joy beyond few I've known. The external part makes it work. But it's still the best job I've ever had.