On one of my lists, one of the writers is lamenting about a bad review she got for her latest book. This is one bad one among several dozen good ones. And yet, it is the bad one that haunts her.
Another writer friend is down because her latest manuscript needs a lot of work. So much that she thinks it - and therefore she - is worthless.
Another is fretting because she spent a month on revisions to a single chapter - ones her agent wanted - but they have been difficult for her.
Another is morose because the books she wants to write aren't selling. The ones that are, are not what she wants to write. They aren't the books of her heart.
I could go on about the troubles I and my writer friends are having, but what would be the point? They all say basically the same thing. Our sense of self-value is wrapped up in our writing. Yes, all the advice mongers out there tell you that what others think about your writing shouldn't reflect on how you feel, but it does. When you spend months - even years - on a single manuscript. You work on it. You pour your heart into it. And then people tell you it's not good enough... it does affect your psyche. There's no way around that.
And yet, we keep writing. We keep submitting. We keep trying. There is no lower low than receiving multiple rejections or bad reviews. But there is no higher high than receiving that acceptance call or getting a good review, or seeing your sales numbers climb.
This is not a business where you will reach an even keel. This is a roller coaster ride and you'd better hang on because it's a wild one.
And since I can't ride the real ones, I think I'll stay on this one for another trip. And another. And another. Because the thing that makes one a writer is the act of writing. As Ray Bradbury once said: "If you write a hundred stories and they're all bad, it doesn't mean you're a failure. You only fail when you stop writing."
And I refuse to join that group. I am a writer.
Monday, February 09, 2009
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
2 comments:
Easy for Ray to say. LOL. Thanks for the little pep talk, Vicky. I had a few days of down a couple of weeks ago, but I had a deadline on something else so I couldn't dwell on it. It's strange hearing about other's problems. I'm sure there's lots of writers wishing they had a book published so they could get any kind of review, and those who wish they had an agent at all even if the said agent did want revisions. And there are lots who would prefer to sell any book even if it isn't the book of one's heart. If I can take my turn to whine, I get frustrated with the slow functioning of the publishing industry and the inefficiency of communications. I'm the kind of person who sticks deadlines, is on time, returns calls and pretty much likes to be organized and ahead of problems before they start. I'm waiting on an answer to an email to my publisher about something. And still waiting. How long does it take to sent a short reply? Yes. No. We'll think about it. Thanks for listening to my problem. Guess I at the bottom of the hill on that coaster.
You mean the roller coaster doesn't end?
Some friends sucked me into writing last fall, after I hadn't written much of anything since high school, where I tended to write what I needed to and never admit to writing any more.
Since then I've become absorbed in this strange world of writing. I've manage to go from not really writing anything to feeling compelled to write as much as I can, and yet I still can't trust my own opinion of my writing (because it's never good enough for me).
It's funny how easy it is to let my view of myself become wrapped up in something that's a relatively small part of who I am, and yet I still feel compelled to try to write even when the words won't come to me. Writing really is a powerful thing, and far more emotional than I ever imagined it would be....
Post a Comment