So, a month ago, Juice magazine held a fiction-writing contest for their first ever fiction issue. Though I detest word limits, especially those as minimal as 1,000 words, I entered the contest with a small espionage tale. It wasn’t my best work by far, and well out of my scifi/fantasy comfort zone. But I was curious what I could do with the constraints, and it sounded like an interesting challenge. Well, the results came in a week ago, and it’s official: I was not an instant winner. Though, I will admit: the winning entry was significant in both style and content. I’m not a fan of second-person narratives, but this piece was well structured and consistent with its prose. I haven’t read any of the other entries, but between this author’s piece and my own, his definitely deserved the recognition.

I’ve posted my entry on my site here. Feel free to read it.

Now, I’m not counting this as a loss. Rather, I’m using it as a motivational catalyst to further my own writing. Along with my good friends Epictetus and John Scalzi.

Yesterday, when I came home from work, I happened to notice that my wife had quietly changed the motivational quote that she writes and displays on our refrigerator. The new quote read:

“If you would be a reader, read; if a writer, write” – Epictetus

Such elegance in so few words. The simplicity of the phrase was what really struck me, because it really and truly is just that simple. We often try to find a magical formula for writing, one that makes us successful with as little effort applied as humanly possible. But it doesn’t work that way, and the truth is far more black-and-white than that.

And here’s a pertinent snippet of a blog post from just last month by a favorite author of mine:

But if you want to be a writer, than be a writer, for god’s sake. It’s not that hard, and it doesn’t require that much effort on a day to day basis. Find the time or make the time. Sit down, shut up and put your words together. Work at it and keep working at it. And if you need inspiration, think of yourself on your deathbed saying “well, at least I watched a lot of TV.” If saying such a thing as your life ebbs away fills you with existential horror, well, then. I think you know what to do.

Well said, John. It really is that simple. You see, I’m desperately trying to squeeze in writing time when I can manage it, but between a full-time job, spending time with the family, playing video games, and keeping up with my Hulu queue, I just can’t seem to find the time.

Yes, I’m fully aware of how pathetic those last two sound.

And that’s the thing of it, right there. If I truly want to write, I have to want to write. It has to be important. More important than catching up on shows on Hulu or playing video games. It has to be the thing I want to do more than I want to engage in any number of other activities. It has to be a passion. And this is true for any and all creative endeavors, not just writing.

As a result, I’m going to work to re-tune my habits. I’ve got a handful of short stories in process, as well as the template for a novel that I’m wanting to write.  Success is not going to come from leaving these ideas rattling noisily within my head while I watch the latest episode of Glee or play the most recent Metroid game. Success will only come when I sit down and write and get this stuff out.

I’ll be back when I have something to show for my efforts.

(It’s probably important to note that I do this at least once a year, if not more often. And by “this” I of course mean “freak out about how little time I spend writing and convince myself that THIS IS GOING TO CHANGE and then, twelve months later, when my methods or habits have not been altered in the slightest, this process gets repeated, ad infinitum”. So, I’ll see you in April 2011 for a blog post that is nearly identical to the one you see here.)