Notes to Self about Writing Life

1. 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.

Writing Gods

Dear Writing Gods:

If you have a moment, I'd like to speak with you. I don't have much time myself today, so I'll try to keep things brief.

I wish you would let me know when a writing slump is coming. There's a popular myth that a real writer can slog their way through less productive times. Well, we can, all of us, at the very least practice typing exercises.

But you know that's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about when our psychology begins to dink around with our work ethic, and we are unproductive. Or when our internal editor begins to criticize our work before we get too far in it. Or when we've been working on a project for so long, we aren't really sure of its current worth.

Any one of these is bad. The next time you decide to do all three things to me, just drop me an itemized list.

I am beginning to come out of it, no thanks to you. I am at least grateful that I didn't have to sacrifice any livestock. However, here are some things that have actually helped me.

1. Scheduled time to write. -- School is back in session. For me, that means scheduled creative time during the day, my peak creative time, at least one day a week.

2. Switching around to a couple of different projects at a time.

3. Talking to other writers about what they're doing.

4. Having some people read my chapters and giving me reader feedback.

5. Reading some published books that lack stylistically. (Oh, I can do that.)

6. Reading some published books that inspire quality writing. (I can do that!)

7. Not finding the exact thing I want to read, and realizing I can at least write the exact thing I want to read.

8. Revisiting the artistic materials (books, movies, music) that mused me on these projects in the first place.

I am back to the idea that I write for me because I want to see what I have to say down so I can read it. I am back to believing in the uniqueness and quality of my work, as well as not working in isolation. I am back to being part of a community of people who do this thing, not in competition with anyone. I appreciate that others are interested in what I'm doing.

But, writing gods, if we're going to do this every year, just drop me a line, and remind me, okay? In the middle of this, I forget we do this tango, and I sort of lose track of my worth. Worst of all, I pretend I'm not doing it, until I realize I am, so it takes me a while to take steps.

Ooookay. So, let's get back on this mechanical bull. I know you have other writers you need to be harassing. See you next year, but don't hurry back on my account.

Catherine

Mirrored from Writer Tamago.