Sometimes it seems like I’ve poured my heart and soul into my work and it is isn’t enough. The feedback is critical, my readers wish for more. But I have to keep going.
Why? Because I’m committed to this. I want to write and publish my novels. I want to please readers with my work. It fulfills me.
So how to handle the rocky road, the potholes and washed out places in the path?
I just finished reading The Nearly Ultimate Guide to Better Writing. It has been put together by Mary Jaksch, chief editor of the blog Write to Done. It’s a book of inspiration. Write to Done can be found at writetodone.com and the book is currently free at that website. The essay that has really hit home for me is by Larry Brooks, as he talks about the sacrifices James Patterson made to get to where he is today in his writing career. He never settled, he didn’t quit.
How dedicated am I to this career path? If ‘no’ really means ‘try again’, then it’s important to remember that when I receive a rejection slip, or someone writes a doubtful review about my novel. Sometimes it’s hard to keep that in mind. If I get a few negative messages in a row, I start to wonder why I’m wasting my time. But show me an author who hasn’t received that kind of feedback and I’ll show you a writer who quit. Nearly everyone who has succeeded at writing has had to face rejections, questions about their work, requests to revise, revamp, rewrite, toss it and try something else.
An interesting book is Open, by Andre Agassi. It is fascinating in that he lived his whole life to play tennis, and hated it. His father and then trainer pushed him to work until he began to succeed. Yet he didn’t do it for the love of the game. He trained, worked, sweat because he felt pushed to do it. But it was the sweat and tears, the repetition and training that brought him where he ended up – at the top of the world of tennis.
No one is pushing me. No one says I have to write, to rewrite, to edit, to produce words. And yet I do. There’s no reason to think I can get there any faster than the person who had to practice and train for endless hours to be an athlete, to finish a masters degree in physics, to start their own company from scratch. Just keep working, keep writing, keep pushing. You can do it too.
So true Sylvie, and don’t forget, it’s only an opinion. As long as you’re writing for the correct reason, namely you LOVE IT, nothing else really matters.
That’s what I think. Keep going because you love to do it. Thanks, Jacquie
Thanks for the inspiration, Sylvie, to keep getting the words out, and more (for me, anyway), getting the story out. You can only do it by doing it. Sometimes, putting the words down is agony. But when I re-read something I’ve written and think, “Hey! Wow!” I know I’m on the right, if sometimes painful, path.
Stick with it!
LizAnn
Hi LizAnn,
I agree. The thing is we only get better as we keep working, keep trying. Just like the player training for the baseball season or the skater for the nationals. We get better as we go. Who says we don’t have to train? Of course we do. Sylvie
I write because I wake up in the morning with a scene in my head and have to get it down. Sometimes I sit on the edge of the bed and scrawl myself a note so I don’t forget. It is a personal journey, and the more I write the more personal it gets.
I am impressed by those of you who get the books out so quickly. This post made me realize that as long as they were on my computer they are not being scrutinized. Criticized. Could that be one reason I don’t hustle to send them out in the world? I hadn’t thought so, but maybe.
I do like Larry Brooks. 🙂
Judy
Thanks Judy,
Well, it does take some nerve to send them out there for review, and sometimes the news is wonderful and now and then not so much. 🙂 But it’s always worthwhile, at least in my experience. Yes, Larry Brooks wrote something that really resonated with me, Sylvie
If the words are meant to come out they will. Nothing can stop them. They are a force of nature.
I like that idea, Anna,
It takes a bit of pressure off. 🙂
Sylvie
Great blog, Sylvie. A writer’s life is challenging on every level imaginable, but still we keep going…with the help of encouraging words like yours.
Thanks Jacqui,
It rests on our own shoulders, doesn’t it? How nice to encourage those around us,
Sylvie
Hi Sylvie
Self-doubt has probably killed more writers than any other cause. But where would we be if James Patterson, Janet Evanovich, J.K. Rowling and countless other writers hadn’t kept on writing. I think you write your best work, edit and polish it until it shines and hope that readers will find you. A little marketing helps to!
Self-doubt is probably the biggest enemy, Pat. And to write your best work and put it out there is the only way to keep going. And the marketing, of course. 🙂
Sylvie