This week also includes prompts that I skipped in the past.
Week 26 - June 28, 2017: What if you knew everything, except the answer you're looking for in a single moment? Okay so, this is going to be hard… I’m turning this prompt into a blog one: Now, I was a part of the Young Adult Community WAY back, like seven years ago. Only just recently, June 2017, have I suddenly jumped back into the YAC pool because I had enjoyed the stories of characters my age, being late teens. I’m newly 26 now. I also like the New Adult Community that is slowly but surely growing, being made up of authors and readers my age, mid 20’s, who still like the same YA content, but with added maturity such as adult issues and sex. So, joining twitter for the first time, and actually actively using it daily, I realized something that scares me. I’m a straight white female, and right now, that’s not cool anymore in the YA or NA community. There is a lot of love for minority characters and LGBTY characters, that’s awesome, good for them! I am glad! It’s their time and I’m happy for the diversity! However, being a straight white Christian myself, I don’t feel like I can write about character’s who are not white or straight, it comes across as fake as all hell because I don’t have those types of experiences. I would much rather shed light on authors who are LGBTY or Not-white to write their own stories, which has been popular and fantastic. But at the same time, a lot of scary witch hunts have been happening. Lets mention one case: Research Veronica Roth’s issue. She’s a white woman who wrote about characters of color and before her book was even out she was harassed and called a racist fed by rumors. When her book came out, surprise, it wasn’t racist… but still, four months of harassment? I can’t even handle thinking about publishing publicly… all four of my self published books aren’t even public. You have to ask me to print a copy to even get one. I want to be a writer, but my skin is not thick enough. And now with my 4 month old daughter? I don’t want any light shed on me if it is negative because I worry about her safety from the weirdo crazy people out there… There are so many people out there that are negative and spread the hate. I’m one of those people who ignores the hate and if I have nothing nice to say, I don’t say it at all. At least I try to be that person. I never write bad reviews of books and if there is a book I love I try to stuff it down everyone’s throat, lol! I know if I publish publicly I will either be ignored or attacked or both… but will I be liked…? Will my writing be good for someone? I don’t know… Week 12 - March 22, 2017: Pick a tweet from a friend and find a way to incorporate all words into your scene. These links to tweets are tweets I relate to, not from friends as I don’t have friends that use twitter. 1. https://twitter.com/IveyAlanaWaters/status/896912654698135553 ~ From @IveyAlanaWaters “I'm scared to continue writing my WIP because the book community has become a vicious and harsh place full of negativity. I'm afraid to write for fear of backlash for some outlandish reason and that really hinders my creativity. There is no room for creativity or imagination anymore because EVERYTHING is scrutinized and put under the microscope. Nothing is taken as it should be and intentions are put onto books and their authors when they just wrote what they wanted. Where does this leave aspiring author? How do you think this brutal community is affecting the future of books? What do you think aspiring authors will think when they see the "conversations" happening on twitter about books? Personally, I get scared. I want my future book to do well, but in this atmosphere? I'm scared it won't. This is why I'm hesitant to do any creative writing. So when you decide to attack an author, threaten them and their fans, and try to ruin their career, remember that aspiring authors can see.” This a hundred times over… 2. https://twitter.com/chel_c_cam/status/897215282380517376 ~ From @chel_c_cam “Okay, gonna say some more Things: not everyone has the time/resources to write. LET ME EXPLAIN: If you do not have the luxury of having your spouse/significant other support you financially, it's REALLY HARD to write and have a day job. Plus, it's REALLY HARD to write when you're: disabled, poor, depressed, etc. It's REALLY HARD to write when you're worried about having a roof over your head. When you're battling pain every day. When you can't get out of bed. When you are worried about someone you love dying. When you're worried about your own safety. "Just sit down and write!" is something only someone with the privilege to do so will say. I would be producing A HELL OF A LOT MORE WORDS if I wasn't so fucking stressed about money all the time. If I was living in the place I would like to be living with my future wife. If I was seeing a therapist again. But for right now, that's not possible. So I have to do the best I fucking can. And that doesn't make me a "lazy" writer. I get a little enraged/jealous when I hear about writers whose spouses make enough money to support them to take time off to just WRITE. I can't imagine if I had a whole year to work on ONE book and not worry about publishing and paying the bills. WOW. What could I do with that kind of time? But I don't have it. I have to make the best I can out of what I have. And I'm not alone. YOU'RE NOT ALONE IF WRITING IS HARD. YOU'RE STILL A WRITER. IT'S A LOT EASIER TO CHURN OUT BOOKS WHEN YOU'RE NOT WORRIED ABOUT MONEY, ETC. When you're not worried about medical issues or your pipes freezing or your children being hurt/killed. I wish this industry didn't make it easier for those writers who already have more privilege to succeed. ANYWHO, support marginalized writers and buy their stuff. BUY THEIR STUFF SO THEY CAN SUPPORT THEMSELVES.” It’s true for me as a well, being a new mom with a full time job working 10 hours a day four days a week plus travel and breast pumping time. Also, dishes, laundry, diner, ect. My husband and I have worked so hard for five to seven years to get the great jobs we have and right now we can’t afford to leave those jobs. The pay and benefits are so good, and I want the best for my daughter. So yeah, writing is my main passion and talent, but it’s a back seat hobby now because I’m a new working mom that refuses to pay for child care because I don’t trust strangers with my angel. This is also why I'm late with some prompts and do a bunch of prompts all together. I'm busy with life and I don't want to miss my lil girl growing up and I don't want to miss out on the quick cuddles I get with my husband now that we work different shifts and days of the week and went from always being together to now always a part so our daughter can always be with at least one of us. Week 29 - August 23rd: Blogging Prompt: What’s something you’ve always considered writing but haven’t yet? A world of my own… simply put, I am J. K. Rowling who has yet to find her Harry Potter. Nothing I even think of really sits in y heart happily. Often I forget about the books I wrote or the prompts I write. There hasn’t been any topic or prompt or genre that has really stuck with me and that’s why I joined Wordbound Wednesdays, to see if somehow I can find that world and succeed and let that world I love make me strong and proud and brave enough to burst from my shell and show the world what I’ve made. But that hasn’t happened… yet…
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Welcome to my Blog Hey, I'm Maryah Stevens, a 25 year old, self-published, college graduate, married, 1st time mom! Phew! Archives
January 2018
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