IWSG: Space Program

Today’s post is part of the Insecure Writer’s Support Group, a blog hop hosted by Alex J. Cavanaugh.  It’s a way for insecure writers like myself give each other advice and encouragement.  Click here to see a full list of participating blogs.

For today’s IWSG, I want to revisit something I wrote over a year ago comparing the life of a writer to running the space program.  I have found the analogy to be increasingly apt the farther down the writer’s path I go.

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By now, fellow writers, you must have realized how being a writer is similar to running the space program.  Oh, you didn’t?  Let me explain.

• Much like NASA scientists, most writers have unrealistic concepts about money, making it impossible to write a budget or manage the financial side of the writing business.
• Writers set deadlines that sound reasonable, provide plenty of time to check and double check our work, and ensure our story/spaceship is at peak performance, but somehow we always end up behind schedule.  Maybe it’s due to the weather, maybe it’s due to technological snafus, or maybe it’s because we spend too much time “working” on Angry Birds: Space and lose track of the other stuff we’re supposed to be doing.
• Just as getting accurate data about the hydrocarbon content of Martian soil may not sound exciting to the general public, some people may not realize how important one book sale, one new contact, one re-tweet, or one positive review on Amazon can be.  Sure, it’s not the same as landing on the Moon, but every small achievement gets us just a little tiny bit closer to our ultimate goal, and those small achievement are always worth celebrating.
• There will always be someone who thinks this (the space program or the life of a writer) is a waste of time and money.  Those people are frustrating, but we have to try to ignore them.  If they don’t understand the value of such bold and ambitious endeavors, they probably never will.

So whatever kind of writing you may be doing or whatever dreams you may have, remember to keep shooting for the stars.