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4 years ago this week I left my life as a medic behind forever after a decade on the job. This is clearly the cover of my unmade mixtape... 
you can read some of my ambulance adventures here danieljoseolder.net/category/blog/…
you may notice the voice is mysteriously similar to a certain half-dead protagonist in my adult Urban Fantasy series...shocking, I know...
but that blog is very literally what led me to realizing I could write novels. I would knock those stories out real quick and they were fun
and I thought...if I just make some shit up...this would be fiction!!
I'd been overthinking it, of course, wanting to write something EPIC
I'd been overthinking it, of course, wanting to write something EPIC
and so not writing anything at all instead. Getting all the way in my own way. My motto became "Just tell the fucking story" and I did.
It took me letting go of the idea of writing something epic in order to finally sit down and write something epic.
Not for nothing.
Not for nothing.
No one sits down and writes a book.
You write a couple lines. Then a couple more. Then you have a page, a scene. Many scenes later, a book.
You write a couple lines. Then a couple more. Then you have a page, a scene. Many scenes later, a book.
but it *feeeels* like the whole book is staring you down when you first think about getting started, the pressure can be tremendous.
Just tell the fucking story.
It doesn't have to be deep.
If you're true to the story, honor it, the depth will come naturally.
It doesn't have to be deep.
If you're true to the story, honor it, the depth will come naturally.
Speaking of all this, happy #NanoWriMo eve, writers! Hopefully the above thread is helpful. When in doubt: just tell the fucking story.
really feel like I have more to offer the world as a writer than I did as a medic. I know first hand how books can save lives.
Also wanna say, on this anniversary of going full time freelance, that I think we over-romanticize the idea of not having a day job
I don't work full time as a medic anymore, but like most writers, I do non-writing jobs like teaching and speaking gigs to make ends meet.
that is the norm. That's what we do. It doesn't connote failure. It means you're making a living. If you can do it AND write: that's success
And it doesn't have to be a writerly type job—something we also over-emphasize. Just has to be a job that holds you down so you can write.
being a medic was an AMAZING job to have while I was starting out as a writer. Not just because you do cool shit & get to use walkietalkies
for practical reasons too: worked 12 hour shifts, so 3 on 4 off a week. 4 whole days off is kick ass. And no take home work! Ayyyy
what's unhealthy is the idea that you HAVE to be full time freelance in order to call yourself a writer or a successful writer or whatever
rid yourself of that pressure. Most of your faves have other jobs. What matters is that we are writing, not what is paying our bills.
exactly! I wrote a bunch of HALF-RESURRECTION BLUES from the stretcher in the back of the ambulance :-)
was working a slow-ass shift in the Boogie Down. Brought my laptop. Did some cardiac arrests, hopped in the back, got those words in ayyy
if you write full time and barely make ends meet or don't have time to be alive, you can come to resent the craft, the process.
that is way worse than spending some days working on non-writing stuff or part of most days. If you love writing you will find a way.
not fully living, taking the time to be alive, be present, is an impediment to good writing.
if all you do is write write write and read read read all you'll produce will be regurgitated work. You have to live. Be alive.
you guys are cracking me up tonight thank you it is much appreciated <3
