I’ve been a hobby fictionist for well over ten years. In fact, I remember writing stories as young as the 6th grade. Over the years, my approach to writing has changed a lot. Once I had to be inspired to write anything, I couldn’t get my fingers flying on my keyboard without inspiration. As the years passed, inspiration wasn’t quite as mandatory. What inspiration couldn’t fill, my imagination stepped up to provide. It got to the point that my imagination would kick in whenever I wanted it to, which was very handy and surprising.
As I write now, inspiration is nice but it’s pure determination that drives me. Once I made the decision to really try to be a professional writer, all my excuses as to why I couldn’t write became incredibly feeble. It didn’t matter if I was inspired or not, the drafted needed to get done. The edits wouldn’t take care of themselves. It was determination and practice that allowed me to finish my fifth NaNoWriMo winner in November 2011 and it’s determination that drives me to get Stealing the Wolf Prince through the first draft edits before this coming NaNoWriMo. I can’t count on inspiration to carry me. Inspiration wont be there when I’ve just plain run out of plot or my characters are rebelling. It’s my force of will and skill that will make it all happen.
It’s this change in thought process that really separates my professional mind from my hobbyist mind. I truly consider myself a writer now, not just someone who dabbles now and then. Which leads me to believe that inspiration is for amateurs and determination is for writers.
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