Time and Chaos in a Writer's Life
C.V. Hunt
Things are crazy here. Not just a little crazy. Like over the top chaotic. And there’s this precious thing that seems to be becoming more and more scarce… time.
Writers struggle every day for a sliver of time. You know… they get up early, get the kids off to school, work a full-time job, go to the kids’ soccer game, fix dinner, spend quality time with the family, tuck the kiddies in at night, and then finally, forfeit sleep so they can create something the world might enjoy.
I don’t have children, but I do have a full-time job. I’m like the majority of the population. And I work a swing-shift to top it off. My schedule is hectic. A lot of times I’m not sure if I’m coming or going. Or even what day it is.
Now add life. You know that thing that happens and you have no control over. Yeah, that’s the one. A separation from your spouse. Your house goes up for sale. Relocation. Things get crazy and time has become a valuable resource.
I’m in this weird limbo now. I travel back and forth between two residences. The housing market isn’t great for sellers. I’ve been waiting with my fingers crossed since June.
But somewhere amid this chaos I found time to do the thing that I enjoy – writing. I didn’t think it was possible. I wasn’t completely sure I should be writing. My mind was in constant turmoil. I kept thinking, What kind of story would I produce if my head wasn’t on straight?
I hadn’t taken a break from writing since I started publishing a few years ago. But I was terrified to stop. What if I lost it? What if I stopped writing and couldn’t start up again. I think anyone who’s truly passionate about writing has this exact same fear. Or at least some do. I know some writers who intentionally take breaks, but I had never done it.
So I kept going.
Time and I have been playing a good game of hide and seek since all of this started. A half hour here… only twenty minutes there… And what was the end result from this?
How To Kill Yourself.
Yeah, I know. The title seems to throw people on opposite ends of the emotional spectrum. Some are offended immediately. Others find it funny. I’ve been sitting back and watching the chaos it’s created among readers. It reminds me of the chaos my mind was in when I was writing it. (And here’s something most readers don’t know. When a book is picked up by a publisher the title and cover design is almost always chosen by them.)
The story was created when resources were low (time). Moral was low. Life was crazy (chaos). It still is crazy. Nothing’s been resolved, yet. But I felt time was of the essence when I wrote How To Kill Yourself. How? I offer you a quote:
“Human life itself may be almost pure chaos, but the work of the artist is to take these handfuls of confusion and disparate things, things that seem to be irreconcilable, and put them together in a frame to give them some kind of shape and meaning.” - Katherine Anne Porter
If you’re interested in finding out what kind of story I produce when time is precious, and life is chaos, you can check out How To Kill Yourself at http://www.amazon.com/How-Kill-Yourself-C-V-Hunt/dp/0988348403/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1350401941&sr=8-1&keywords=how+to+kill+yourself or visit my site www.authorcvhunt.com
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