Jan 26
All about timing
I once took six months off work to write a complete screenplay. The plan failed.
Oh, I did indeed take six months off work - being freelance at the time helped make that happen - but my ambition to write far exceeded my ability to write. I have no regret about that six months, however, because my writing did develop as did a new realisation about myself, my ambition, and the need for a little mileage.
Talking with and reading about other new writers, there seems to be a magical 10 years during which establishment must take place. Very few creative people - writing, art, performing, etc. - discover their “big break” before ten years of working at it. Something seems to kick in after this amount of time. I suppose to an extent it is a psychological filtering system whereby if you are truly still motivated about a subject after a whopping ten years of effort, then you can truly say you have the aptitude to continue and develop. There’s no guarantee, however, and many still struggle long after their establishing ten years.
Thinking back, I am roughly at my own ten years since beginning to see some form of writing as a potential path, and it is most certainly only now that I am able to bring the past ten years’ of experience, failure, struggle, and realisation into a combined focus to move forward with a clear path laid out ahead. Even a mere year ago, this was not possible.
Timing is different for everyone, I would guess, but these ten years seem to be a commonly experienced and expressed time period. It may be frustration to think about it if you are at the beginning, but understanding it offers a little comfort in that it removes the expectation of immediate success, and plenty of time to develop whatever skills one might need once everything finally comes together.