From the Fiction Desk

Whether you write songs lyrics, essays, poems, short stories, novels or something else, you know that what you do requires a discipline many others do not have. The outside world may see us as people trying to make a living in our PJs, because they have been able to write a cute little sketch at one point in their lives or jealousy wish they could stay at home and not spend the money on gas to get to work. Most of us do not have the luxury of only writing, but have to hold down other jobs to pay the bills and our discipline forces us to write despite the long days and stresses of those jobs.

We know it is not enough to produce one successful manuscript. We have to push ourselves not to repeat the success, but to exceed it. We rip open old wounds, examine them from every angle and then write from our souls. Writing is a calling and demands from us a level of commitment non-artisans may never have to duplicate. Our discipline tears us away from friends and family to plant ourselves somewhere and spend our lives working to put ink on paper so to touch someone who we may never see.

The discipline enforces the demands of our art to wake up early, go to bed late, skip watching some popular TV show everyone might talk about, shun the telephone, or miss some event so that we can pour our blood onto the page. We learn to juggle our schedules to get the most important moments of our lives in and to record them in written form. Without discipline, we can never complete a project (all the drafts) or improve as a writer.

Please visit www.davidalanlucas.com for information about my current stories.