Notes to Self about Writing Life
Aug. 24th, 2011 04:26 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cathschaffstump1. Just be yourself. Don't schmooze, don't obssess, don't get weird, don't get all theater. It's served you well, being yourself all this time. Stick with it.
2. Just write. Keep at it steadily, keep at it carefully. Do it conscientiously, do it to the best of your ability.
3. See number one again, especially when you feel insecure about number 2.
4. Believe you have a story to tell. Then don't put it off. Tell it.
5. Accept that some people will like your work, some people will not like your work, and that's okay. You write because you have a story to tell. It's nice if someone will read your story, but if they don't, well, not everyone in the world or even the Western hemisphere is going to read your story. And that is okay.
6. Writing can change the world, but is not the most important job anyone will ever have on the planet. You are not telling deep truths about the universe. You are telling a story. Get over yourself.
7. See number one and number three again, just in case you need a reality check. Never believe your own press.
8. Keep doing something you enjoy that keeps you in touch with people and makes you feel that you are making a contribution to the world, because you can turn into a mushroom if you're writing only. A strange, weird, psychologically fungal mushroom, I might add. And then you might drink.
9. Do not pass judgment on the writing of others. Do not compare your writing to the writing of others. You can have opinions about things you read, but unless you are asked, you might want to keep them to yourself, especially where other writers are concerned. Play nice.
10. Expect others to play nice with you. Avoid pseudo intellectuals and non constructive critics. Hell, you don't need them. You have your worst critic, yourself, to contend with already.
11. The industry is not the measure of your success. Attention is not the measure of your success. Of course you want to send your work out, make smart marketing decisions, and try to share. The measure of your success is stories written and sent. You can't convince the world it wants your work, but you certainly can't do anything at all unless you're telling stories.
12. Realize that success in writing, like success in anything, is really more about persistance than anything else. Write, learn to market selectively and well, and then market selectively and well. There will be a learning curve. You will battle obscurity. You will make mistakes and get rejections. BUT eventually you'll have enough circulating and people will know who you are, and you'll learn the tricks, and your writing will line up with someone's taste, and more and more things will be accepted.
13. See 1, 3, and 7 again, especially in moments of personal angst.
14. See 2 and 4 again, especially in moments of procrastination.
15. See 4, 5, 9, and 11 again, especially in moments where you lack faith.
16. See 5, 9, and 10 to remind yourself of grace.
17. See 6, 7 and 10 to remind yourself that you're not curing cancer.
18. See 8 to maintain your balance.
19. See 12 when you feel like giving it up.
20. If you're not satisified anymore, if it's causing you consternation, cease. Walk away. Writing is important. A happy life is much more important than that. Anything must give you joy for you to continue it. Don't settle.
2. Just write. Keep at it steadily, keep at it carefully. Do it conscientiously, do it to the best of your ability.
3. See number one again, especially when you feel insecure about number 2.
4. Believe you have a story to tell. Then don't put it off. Tell it.
5. Accept that some people will like your work, some people will not like your work, and that's okay. You write because you have a story to tell. It's nice if someone will read your story, but if they don't, well, not everyone in the world or even the Western hemisphere is going to read your story. And that is okay.
6. Writing can change the world, but is not the most important job anyone will ever have on the planet. You are not telling deep truths about the universe. You are telling a story. Get over yourself.
7. See number one and number three again, just in case you need a reality check. Never believe your own press.
8. Keep doing something you enjoy that keeps you in touch with people and makes you feel that you are making a contribution to the world, because you can turn into a mushroom if you're writing only. A strange, weird, psychologically fungal mushroom, I might add. And then you might drink.
9. Do not pass judgment on the writing of others. Do not compare your writing to the writing of others. You can have opinions about things you read, but unless you are asked, you might want to keep them to yourself, especially where other writers are concerned. Play nice.
10. Expect others to play nice with you. Avoid pseudo intellectuals and non constructive critics. Hell, you don't need them. You have your worst critic, yourself, to contend with already.
11. The industry is not the measure of your success. Attention is not the measure of your success. Of course you want to send your work out, make smart marketing decisions, and try to share. The measure of your success is stories written and sent. You can't convince the world it wants your work, but you certainly can't do anything at all unless you're telling stories.
12. Realize that success in writing, like success in anything, is really more about persistance than anything else. Write, learn to market selectively and well, and then market selectively and well. There will be a learning curve. You will battle obscurity. You will make mistakes and get rejections. BUT eventually you'll have enough circulating and people will know who you are, and you'll learn the tricks, and your writing will line up with someone's taste, and more and more things will be accepted.
13. See 1, 3, and 7 again, especially in moments of personal angst.
14. See 2 and 4 again, especially in moments of procrastination.
15. See 4, 5, 9, and 11 again, especially in moments where you lack faith.
16. See 5, 9, and 10 to remind yourself of grace.
17. See 6, 7 and 10 to remind yourself that you're not curing cancer.
18. See 8 to maintain your balance.
19. See 12 when you feel like giving it up.
20. If you're not satisified anymore, if it's causing you consternation, cease. Walk away. Writing is important. A happy life is much more important than that. Anything must give you joy for you to continue it. Don't settle.
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(no subject)
Date: 2007-08-24 10:16 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-08-24 12:28 pm (UTC)BTW, I found you via Kara_gnome's friend's list. Just in case you're wondering.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-08-24 01:08 pm (UTC)Catherine
(no subject)
Date: 2007-08-24 01:23 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-08-24 04:14 pm (UTC)Then again, I write in more of a shelter than you do, for what it's worth. Different styles = love that make the world go around.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-08-25 01:06 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-08-25 04:27 pm (UTC)Woah! Sounded like Tennant's Dr. Who for a moment. Can't have that...
Catherine
(no subject)
Date: 2007-08-25 11:49 pm (UTC)Back when I was at ISU I was in a production of "A Midsummer Night's Dream". This was about the time I printed my first "Brisbane the Barbarian" and so I brought a few copies to rehearsal. After one of the acts I came back down to the dressing room and saw that someone had written a critique on the back of one of my "Brisbanes".
"There is much in this that is good, and there is much that is less good..." About a hundred words of critical self-important blather that infuriated me, not the least of which because I now could no longer sell that particular copy because it had been written on.
But I came to a realization which helped me put it all in perspective. I turned to one of the other actors who was with me and said: "I've been called shallow by better men than he."
(no subject)
Date: 2007-08-26 12:16 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-03-11 05:59 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-04-25 07:50 pm (UTC)random commenter
Date: 2008-05-08 02:56 pm (UTC)Notes to Self About Writing Life
Date: 2008-06-03 01:46 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-07-25 10:02 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-07-29 04:23 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-07-29 04:37 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-07-29 04:42 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-07-29 04:43 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-07-29 04:49 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-10-21 11:57 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-10-21 03:04 pm (UTC)I thought I needed to lay some ground rules at the beginning of the whole thing, so I could keep my perspective.
Catherine
(no subject)
Date: 2008-10-31 09:40 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-11-08 02:23 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-11-27 04:55 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-12-22 04:06 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-01-09 01:04 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-01-09 03:28 pm (UTC)Catherine