This week I'm focusing on the the bad. That right! THE BAD! Every third person you meet ( not a scientifically proven fact but a personal observation) wants to write a novel. They also want to spend between fifteen minutes to an hour explaining that novel to you at every event you attend. Then they may suggest that you write it for them, for free of course, since you are a writer and basically have nothing to do. Writing a novel comes with the bad bonus that very few people respect your work. Anyone can write a book. If you are a children's writer, you work for peanuts, and that's if you're lucky. Don't expect applause.
Writing a novel is no fun. Bad, bad, stuff. You sit in a chair. My sciatica is terrible. You stare at a blank page, then you write entire chapters that are totally worthless. The next day you repeat this experience. For me, I will repeat this experience 5 days a week for at least 8 months to reach Draft Number One! That draft has more holes than pumice. There will be many many drafts. I work hard. I spend months refining my work. Hours at critique group, hours reading support books, hours rewriting scenes and upping the stakes in anyway I can. There is monotony in this work. No one tells you when you are done. No one tells you when you should just drop this novel and work on something else. There is no way to know if anyone will ever read what you writing. And yet you write anyway.
I don't write novels in a vacuum. Novels are written in the real world. It can be very bad. I wish it were all about drinking cups of tea. I wish it were all about sitting in a beautiful spot and considering my imaginary world. It is not about that. It is about writing in a corner of a hospital waiting room. It's in the middle of a day job that is about a mindless as it gets. It's not just exterior stuff that will get you down. It's about writing yourself into a corner that there is no way out of and you have to scrap the whole draft and work on something else. It's about receiving tons of rejections and still pushing forward. It's about hoping against hope. No easy road, folks..
I hope that you are kind to yourself this week. I get it. We all are facing battles. No work comes easy to any of us. We have to pour our our souls sometimes to find our way.
I hope this doodle makes you smile. Yes, good work comes out of a lovely blobby brown mess.
Because sometimes you have to do something bad to do something good. Oscar Wilde
6 comments:
This was exactly what I needed to read today. Today being a writer isn't fun, it's BAD. Thanks!
Ah, but we still get to enjoy the bad stuff :) Definitely not for the faint of heart.
Hey, tonight is our 6th anniversary! I remember you and Peggy and Katherine and Fr. Andrew! We were up until 3 am ... and in AWE and WONDER!!! Thank you, Molly.
Hi Vijaya, I am feeling that awe and wonder!!!!! So happy! I am actually in Washington with Katherine. We are both smiling!
Hi Helen, some days, some days.
I can relate to the Sciatica, ouch!
Actually, some of the novel writing business is fun. A lot of it is downright heady. But I'm guessing this post is aimed at the done-in-fifteen-minutes and you-write-it-for-me folks, and they should be scared away by tales of misery. Only they are unlikely to be reading this, or anything ;)
Getting back to having fun. Thanks for the fun break, Molly/Cece.
Hi Mirka, Love your positive attitude! I believe some serious writers have days like these, but yes, this news that snagging that best seller is tougher than you think does send the faint-at-heart running toward the hills!
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