Under Construction: Working Hard (From Home)

Chance Webb
May 5, 2017
2 min read

When I was a kid, like most young boys, I enjoyed playing with cars, trains, airplanes--you name it, if it moved, I was right along with it. I had a plethora of Tonka trucks, a video game for the computer where you used specific vehicles on a construction site to complete a job, and if there was water running along the curb, you could trust that I was out there splashing around in my bare feet.

I started constructing this site so that I could be in control of my words, and how they make it onto the page. For those of you not in the know, the publishing world of creative writing is an incredibly difficult, incredibly competitive process. Like writing, working on this website is a process. Please be patient as I work to make this website easy to navigate!

me working hard to bring this site to you

Everyone has this perception, however misguided, that writing is the easiest job in the world--it's not, for a multitude of reasons. But one of the biggest is after all the work and care you put into a piece, it may be months or even years before it even sees print. It's what discourages many aspiring writers from the field when they first realize how difficult the publishing process can really be.

Writing is a stressful process. In the first place, you have to be in a headspace where you're comfortable writing. When you're done, however long that takes, comes revision, because no one writes a perfect book/short story/whatever on the first try.

me revising my short stories

What I'm trying to get at is that writing is a process. An incredible professor of mine told me something that was horrifying but also inspiring: that the process of writing, revising, and submitting never really ends. Sure, the "process" for one piece may end when you achieve publication, but as long as you continue writing, the overarching process never really ends. You can go as long as you want.

I'm excited to be able to bring my words, my stories, and my thoughts to many people. I hope you enjoy what you find here, and I hope that in some way I can inspire someone else to follow their own path. The world may seem ugly, but it doesn't always have to be