I’ve never regretted any of them

October 24, 2013

I said I wouldn’t do this as much anymore, but I ask you to please excuse me while I indulge. Sometimes I can’t help but contemplating my navel (trope!), and this time it’s in regards to blogging. Namely, it’s about why I bother at all.

I often think that if I didn’t write here and/or at Random Curiosity, I would have a lot more time to spend writing the fiction I love the most. I can’t give them up though – and I’ll get to why shortly – so instead I keep trying to hold myself back. I’ll only blog two series this season, I’ll say, so I’ll have more time for my fiction…and then another great show comes along, one it would pain me to see it go uncovered, and I end up picking it up anyway. And so I have less time to work on my fiction, and I wonder why I do it to myself.

Today I was watching Neil Gaiman’s amazing commencement speech for what must be the 400th time, and I realized why:

“The things I did because I was excited, and wanted to see them exist in reality have never let me down, and I’ve never regretted the time I spent on any of them.” – Neil Gaiman

My fiction may never earn me a cent, and I won’t regret the time I’ve spent on it, which I can say because my work here and at RandomC earn me no income, and I do not regret a moment I’ve spent on either of them. That’s because I’m proud of my work, proud that I’ve dared to do it, and because I wanted to see these posts exist in reality, just as I want my fiction to exist for all of you to read.

If you’ve never watched Mr. Gaiman’s commencement speech, you should. I’ll probably refer to it again. Now back to writing, on my fiction and everything else.