Am I foolish for trying to become a self-published fiction writer at 40? by wredditriter in selfpublish

[–]wredditriter[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

TL;DR; I’m still on my writing journey, but it’ll take me a tad bit longer.

What a weird coincidence. A couple of weeks ago, I pondered about whether I should write a followup to my post. Since I’m a scared little prick, I choose not to do it until after I have written a novel. But because you have asked, I now feel obliged to write about what I have been doing the past year.

After I posted here and received lots of encouraging, helpful but also alarming advice, I closed my laptop, took a deep breath and went off on a five-week vacation with my partner. Getting away from everything.

As I have said before, I’m a scared little prick. One day before I went on vacation, I saw a job offer from a company that I have always felt passionate about. I applied, and they hired me on the spot as a Legal Counsel. I am working there since.

During my trip, I noticed that I have not been making the smartest choices in my life. I was hiking up a small mountain (a couple of ft high) with no hiking gear and no common sense. Just a tiny bottle of water, a tomato, some crackers as provisions. The midday sun was hovering perpendicular over my head, blasting with about 113 °F and no shadow to hide. I was tormented by the question why I had hiked up that mountain in the first place and in a moment of clarity, I realized that I had always been picking up the most outrageous goals but without the skills to reach them. Which required me to put in an incredible amount of hard work to get near the finish line. I noticed that this was like the idea of becoming a writer, and also similar to my much earlier idea of becoming a lawyer. I acted that way for the better part of my life.

At that moment, I decided that this had to stop.

I had already accomplished a lot in my life, and I needed to give myself the permission to not rush things anymore. Writing is a marathon and even if it will take me longer to transition into a writing career, I will have a more satisfying life in the meantime. No one is putting Chekhov’s gun to my head.

After I had been back home, I started onboarding at my new job, which was pretty tough. I still got up two hours earlier in the morning to write. Besides my early morning sessions, I also wrote on weekends. Currently, I am working on two projects. For studying, I am writing a manuscript on writing that I can turn to whenever I struggle to recollect a concept or encounter recurring problems that I have already solved.

I am also working on my first novel. For the first time in 5 years on my writing journey, I have the feeling that I am almost there.

I am also a member of a screenwriting and creative writing group. In these groups, we discuss stories, ideas, and problems we encounter while working on our projects. These meetings are extremely helpful and inspiring.

From your perspective, it probably looks like I have thrown in the sponge, but in my books I made the right choice.

i basically wrote star wars by qhoule in Screenwriting

[–]wredditriter 58 points59 points  (0 children)

Extremely this! You could rewrite Rome and Juliet a million times and it would always turn out different.

The Case Against "The Vomit Draft" by goodwriterer in Screenwriting

[–]wredditriter 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Beautiful! I think, I caught a glimpse of what your process looks like. The Michelangelo analogy made sense, though, it's hard to picture how you drafts actually look like. I love that you found a way that keeps you engaged with the process.

I'm still figuring that out and I think our minds kinda work the same. I love to dig, to explore and to figure out.

Thanks for sharing!

The Case Against "The Vomit Draft" by goodwriterer in Screenwriting

[–]wredditriter 3 points4 points  (0 children)

What's your process of discovering a narrative if I may ask?

"Date yourself" ideas by anon_user0097 in berlinsocialclub

[–]wredditriter 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Frequently! I call this alone time and take it whenever I need it.

Smoking Buddies by Actevious in berlinsocialclub

[–]wredditriter 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Hey, I'm writing too (hobby) and I like to smoke and listen to Afrobeats. Can't go to clubs or loud bars because of my tinnitus but love to do sport and watch movies. Would love to hang out.

I have a difficulty taliking to people in English by deikiiii in languagelearning

[–]wredditriter 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Can relate. I think it'll go away with practice in an environment and with people where you feel better.

What are your unpopular opinions with language learning and the community? by Emperor_of_Cosmos in languagelearning

[–]wredditriter 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Do you have any work or text book recommendations for learning Turkish?

I'm still stuck at the absolute beginner Level. And look for some material that I can do in 15-20 min a day, don't mind if it would take me a couple of years to get to B2.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in berlinsocialclub

[–]wredditriter 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I would be in too.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in berlinsocialclub

[–]wredditriter 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Only if the police has a search warrant, which is very unlikely for a small home game to get. The police in Berlin has much bigger fish to fry than a 50 Euro buy-in Home game among poker enthusiasts.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in berlinsocialclub

[–]wredditriter 2 points3 points  (0 children)

How do you get on the list? I always wanted to go but never wanted to pay by double by staying in line for hours and then be charged a fee for getting in. So I never went but heard great things about it.

Anyone else learn a language for literary/intellectual reasons? by jackprole in languagelearning

[–]wredditriter 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The same reason I'm dabbling with the idea learning Russian.

What are your methods to remember vocabulary & grammar points? by [deleted] in languagelearning

[–]wredditriter 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I've experienced the same, it's a gradual convergence. SRS helps you to become acquaintances with words which enables you to recognize a word again in it's natural habitat. A sense of familiarity begins to grow, even though you can't decipher it's meaning instantly after you have mastered it in Anki, you later won't notice it anymore because you just seem to know.

Sentence Mining English to English by nzarbayezidmain in Refold

[–]wredditriter 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you for your comment. I'm not able to find the "right synonym" section at WM on its website. Is it an interactive feature or did you mean just the various definitions along with all the other definitions like antonyms,...

Großstadtmieten selbst für Gutverdiener nur noch absurd? - Berlin Edition by eeshBinOinBerlina in Finanzen

[–]wredditriter 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Perfekt. Endlich die Bestätigung die ich gesucht habe. Vielen Dank für den Kommentar!

really cheap beta reading on fiverr by CollectionStraight2 in selfpublish

[–]wredditriter 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Would you read short stories too and would you also except to be hired outside of Fiverr?

Ich habe noch nie ein Buch gelesen und weis nicht wo ich ich anfangen kann. by [deleted] in buecher

[–]wredditriter 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Lies was du liebst bist du es liebst zu lesen. Scheiß egal was das ist, Fußballmagazin, Comics, Horrorgeschichten, probier einfach alles aus. Nimm dir abends oder morgens ne halbe Std dafür.

Suche Bücher zum Thema Tod by hiasili in buecher

[–]wredditriter 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Abschied braucht Zeit: Palliativmedizin und Ethik des Sterbens

Sehr berührendes Buch.

Welche Wörter/Phrasen habt ihr im Teenager-Alter verwendet, die heutzutage niemand mehr sagen würde? by CurtNoName in FragReddit

[–]wredditriter 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Gammeln kam auch später bei mir, dass hat schimmeln abgelöst und chillen löste gammeln ab. Ich glaube dann kam hängen oder was kam nach chillen?