I read the following blog today: The Business Rusch: You are not alone. I can't tell if this is an encouraging blog or a discouraging blog, but what I do know is that writers- published or not- indie or midlist or NYT Bestsellers- one and all hit the pit of despair at least once. For some, it is multiple times. Let's face it we are creatives and that leads us to wild imaginings of both fame and fortune, and the opposite, being forced to live in a cardboard box and scrounge in dumpsters for our next meal. When the words are dragged from you in blood, sweat, and tears and poured over and edited and reedited and hours spent on perfection-then all you see is rejection or worse- you get published-great reviews and still "no one" buys the book-except for maybe 50 of your friends who may not even read it. It feels like you have tried and failed. It feels personal-very personal. I have to agree with one thing she says in her blog- you are not alone. What is most important- really truly important is to ask yourself what do you want to do? If what you want to do is write- then write. Write for fun. Write as freelance if you can. Write nonfiction. Write.
But I don't want to settle, you think. My writing is good. Some people think it's great. If I settle, will I be selling out? Will I be giving up? Will I do a disservice to the stories I have poured my heart and soul into?
We have all heard the stories of those writers who win the lottery and make it big in new ways. We begrudge them. We harangue them. We try to imitate them. We make it personal. It feels personal. It should be personal.
It's not.
Publishing is a crazy business. A crazy business that is changing as fast as technology. It's hard to keep up. Hard to tell what is up from down. It's like the grocery store check out lines. The line next to you is always shorter. But if you switch lines your old line goes faster. If you wait and get firmly wedged into the crowd a new line opens and people who just arrived get checked out first. Crazy. Also- not personal.
So read the blog above- let me know what you think. More importantly, write. Write for fun. Write out of love. Write because that is what you want. It is in the writing that we are created-not how fast you get out of the checkout line or how much money you save.
Cheers~
5 comments:
Writing is the best way to boost up your confidence, to make your life more meaningful and express your ideas and conclusion and to have that useful information for you make as a basis much better.
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I read this last week and it makes some good points. Publishing is in the middle of a transition and I'm confident that things will even out. But is hard to be an author during this phase. If love writing, you have to keep plugging, or as she mentions, walk away. I'm not walking away. I want to take advantage of the changes. that might take time to figure it out, but, hey, I'm smart. Lolol!
Sia McKye's Thoughts...OVER COFFEE
Thanks for the great comments.
I agree with siryoz0. Writing is the best way to boost your confidence.
Sia, you are smart and I'm glad that you are sticking with it.
At the same time, if all the craziness is making someone so unhappy that they are considering ending their life-then get out. It's not worth it and no failure on their part. I think that is the real message here. Cheers~
Great advice for today, and Rusch's post is a spot on analysis of the industry today. As an editor myself, I know it's tough, and it's about the numbers—but that doesn't mean that it's impossible. There are still people who love books trying to publish projects they love. Her final bit of advice is appropriate: Have fun, and do whatever it takes to enjoy your writing! : )
Hi Alexander,
Thanks for your thoughts. Good to know that editors agree- I thought she did a good job of explaining how tough things are for editors as well.
Cheers~
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