I’m at the Romance Unleashed blog today. It’s kind of a downer about writing–but I don’t mean for it to be. I was at the WisRWA conference this weekend and something hit me. Jennifer Crusie and Bob Mayer were the speakers. One of Bob’s presentations was on what characteristics successful writers have. He and Jennifer also both hit on some of the dips in their careers. (dips may be to strong of a word, more like realities)
Anyway, it made me realize one thing you need to overcome to be a writer (a sane one) is defense against the birds. You know the Alfred Hitchcock movie The Birds? You know how they flew down and took little bits out of people? Well, I think writers live like this. They either do it to themselves or let others do it to them. You don’t have a contract? Oh, you got a bad review? You got bumped to a different slot? Your agent dropped you? They want you to change your name? They don’t want book three in your trilogy? Etc., etc. These things happen to all writers at some point, but for some reason we grab a hold of them, press them to our breasts and act like it has never happened to anyone but us and it must mean certain deaths to our careers. PLUS to make matters worse, we continue the myth by pretending these things aren’t common place when chatting with the unpubbed.
Well, the truth is, publishing can be a pretty rocky road, and if we let every bump throw us out of our seats we will never get anywhere. That’s why I blogged my ugly blog. It was just kind of eating at me–you know?
Great post, Lori and a true one. We have to have tough skin and faith in ourselves.
by Teresa June 6th, 2006 at 11:30 am