Stick with it! Don't fade, dammit!
So, I've been in a bit of a frustration rut lately.
I think everyone who's ever put pen to paper (or stylus to clay, pencil to paper, brush to papyrus or fingers to keyboard) has run into the question of "what the hell am I doing?"
So what the hell am I doing? I'm sitting here, in my local library writing to you, dear reader. There aren't many of you. Currently, the view count on my most popular post stands at 6. To me as a writer, that's pretty discouraging.
But here's the thing: if I don't keep up with this blog, no matter how ... obscure? ... it might be, how can I ever expect to have any success in publishing a book? Let me put it another way.
We (I assume) are writers. Or readers. We tend to be a persistent lot, especially when our characters are in a situation we want them to get out of somehow. For example, I was able to persist through the entire 19-book New Jedi Order series. All of it. There were quite a few lists out there that said this or that book could be safely ignored, I read through them all, because I didn't want to just toss aside the progress I'd made.
So what does it mean when we give up?
If you read my post from last week, you'll know what happens. I didn't finish the Temeraire series, and it feels hollow. It's like you've invested in something and now you don't have anything to show for it—like there's an incompleteness to something you've done.
Now let's put this principle to work in terms of writing.
If you're writing a blog and you give up, you're losing all the hours you spent writing it, promoting it, thinking about it and generally thinking about it. If you're writing a book or short story, you're missing out on much more. Prior to your giving up, you've spent probably dozens of hours drafting, re-drafting, revising, re-revising, re-re-revising, beta reading, attending conferences, drinking caffeinated beverages by the gallon, etc., all in an effort to just get to where you are. Sure, you might be stuck. But bajillions of other writers get stuck. The successful ones keep their keyboards in front of them and hack away at the dead meat in their stories (or blogs, or what-have-you) until they're satisfied. Otherwise, a writer will just ... fade. To me, that's one of the worst things that can happen to a person's story.
Don't fade, dammit! You're the only one with access to what's inside that gray goo in your head unless you let it out. One of my favorite songs in recent times comes from the movie Sing. The title of the song says it all: Let it All Free. Stories have always been one of the most important things to civilizations, wherever they are. They might be disguised as myth, ghost stories, legends, religious stories or what we think of as fiction, but they're all stories we use to guide ourselves and the generations after us.
With the following generations looking to us, isn't it our responsibility to give them these stories rolling around in our heads? Sure, mine might be set in an apocalyptic sci-fi world. Another person's might be yet another YA dystopian supernatural fantasy romance. But when you look at the stories throughout the ages, all of them are connected by one thing: they're about people. Not characters. We learn from stories. That's why we love them.
Whatever your story is, I want to hear it. Don't get so down on yourself that you let yourself stop. Stick with it! Don't you dare fade on me, dammit!
Now that I've given myself a pep-talk, I'm going to go drink some caffeine...
I think everyone who's ever put pen to paper (or stylus to clay, pencil to paper, brush to papyrus or fingers to keyboard) has run into the question of "what the hell am I doing?"
So what the hell am I doing? I'm sitting here, in my local library writing to you, dear reader. There aren't many of you. Currently, the view count on my most popular post stands at 6. To me as a writer, that's pretty discouraging.
But here's the thing: if I don't keep up with this blog, no matter how ... obscure? ... it might be, how can I ever expect to have any success in publishing a book? Let me put it another way.
We (I assume) are writers. Or readers. We tend to be a persistent lot, especially when our characters are in a situation we want them to get out of somehow. For example, I was able to persist through the entire 19-book New Jedi Order series. All of it. There were quite a few lists out there that said this or that book could be safely ignored, I read through them all, because I didn't want to just toss aside the progress I'd made.
So what does it mean when we give up?
If you read my post from last week, you'll know what happens. I didn't finish the Temeraire series, and it feels hollow. It's like you've invested in something and now you don't have anything to show for it—like there's an incompleteness to something you've done.
Now let's put this principle to work in terms of writing.
If you're writing a blog and you give up, you're losing all the hours you spent writing it, promoting it, thinking about it and generally thinking about it. If you're writing a book or short story, you're missing out on much more. Prior to your giving up, you've spent probably dozens of hours drafting, re-drafting, revising, re-revising, re-re-revising, beta reading, attending conferences, drinking caffeinated beverages by the gallon, etc., all in an effort to just get to where you are. Sure, you might be stuck. But bajillions of other writers get stuck. The successful ones keep their keyboards in front of them and hack away at the dead meat in their stories (or blogs, or what-have-you) until they're satisfied. Otherwise, a writer will just ... fade. To me, that's one of the worst things that can happen to a person's story.
Don't fade, dammit! You're the only one with access to what's inside that gray goo in your head unless you let it out. One of my favorite songs in recent times comes from the movie Sing. The title of the song says it all: Let it All Free. Stories have always been one of the most important things to civilizations, wherever they are. They might be disguised as myth, ghost stories, legends, religious stories or what we think of as fiction, but they're all stories we use to guide ourselves and the generations after us.
With the following generations looking to us, isn't it our responsibility to give them these stories rolling around in our heads? Sure, mine might be set in an apocalyptic sci-fi world. Another person's might be yet another YA dystopian supernatural fantasy romance. But when you look at the stories throughout the ages, all of them are connected by one thing: they're about people. Not characters. We learn from stories. That's why we love them.
Whatever your story is, I want to hear it. Don't get so down on yourself that you let yourself stop. Stick with it! Don't you dare fade on me, dammit!
Now that I've given myself a pep-talk, I'm going to go drink some caffeine...
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