Why does it always have to be hard?
The past few months I have been reading a lot on writing - everything from how to write, how to get published, even how to do book binding.
The most recurrent theme is how hard it is to be a writer. There are always wonderful quotes like:
Holly Lisle, an author (someone I have notread), has a pretty interesting web site filled with resources for writers and inspiration and support. However, in her free ebook, Mugging the Muse, she has this to say:
The book reads well, but those introductory paragraphs are sure to turn away many who aspire to see their words published and shared with others (granted, blogging does remove many barriers for sharing words).
As mentioned, I have read a lot of books on writing and if you are interested here are my top choices:
The First Five Pages: A Writer's Guide to Staying Out of the Rejection Pile
- Noah Lukeman
This is definitely the best book. It gives practical and readable advice on writing from an editor. Just shy of 200 pages it is a good size (sorry, but I hate thick books - computer books are the worst, frequently weighing in over 1000 pages - how in the world am I supposed to keep up with that. Just give me the information. Thanks).
Make Your Words Work: Proven Techniques for Effective Writing, for Fiction and Nonfiction - Gary Provost (the observant longtime readers will remember I quoted him a while back).
This predates "The First Five Pages" and covers a few more topics. The advice in both books is similar, but since this one weighs in at over 300 pages it is slightly less recommendable.
I haven't read any other really good books on writing. Although, there was The Writer's Mentor, filled with collected quotes and authors' experiences - which run the gamut showing that every experience is unique.
Writing is one of the things I have always wanted to do in my life. Even signed up with NaNoWriMo last year (but dropped out because it wasn't my speed).
Why is everything always hard or complicated (I am not just picking on writing in this post)? I have a background in both electronics and computer science, but I would never say that these are hard. It requires constancy and sincere effort, but hard? No. (Note: this is not to say things just sail along smoothly. Ending up niched or obsolete is frightfully easy. Getting your foot in the door can be tough. Sometimes there are long hours and mad schedules, but I would never describe programming as staring at the monitor until blood drips out of your pores).
The most recurrent theme is how hard it is to be a writer. There are always wonderful quotes like:
"There's nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and open a vein." - Walter Smith "Writing is easy: All you do is sit staring at a blank sheet of paper until drops of blood form on your forehead." -Gene FowlerHolly Lisle, an author (someone I have notread), has a pretty interesting web site filled with resources for writers and inspiration and support. However, in her free ebook, Mugging the Muse, she has this to say:
"Let me define the act of writing for you. As a writer, you're going to attempt to sell the products of your mind to a world that doesn't care right now whether you breathe or not. You're going to strip your soul naked and parade it in front of editors and agents, publishers … While you are reaching out to editors, agents and publishers, you're going to fail. Over and over and over again, you are going to send things out and they are going to come back with impersonal rejection notices, with no notices at all, with the occasional signed memo that “This isn't for us.” You are going to stare at your words and sit in a darkened room and wonder, “What the hell is the matter with me?” You are going to take the rejections personally, are going to hurt, are going to bleed. Agents will turn you down, editors will turn you down, places that don't even pay for stories will turn you down."The book reads well, but those introductory paragraphs are sure to turn away many who aspire to see their words published and shared with others (granted, blogging does remove many barriers for sharing words).
As mentioned, I have read a lot of books on writing and if you are interested here are my top choices:
The First Five Pages: A Writer's Guide to Staying Out of the Rejection Pile
- Noah Lukeman
This is definitely the best book. It gives practical and readable advice on writing from an editor. Just shy of 200 pages it is a good size (sorry, but I hate thick books - computer books are the worst, frequently weighing in over 1000 pages - how in the world am I supposed to keep up with that. Just give me the information. Thanks).
Make Your Words Work: Proven Techniques for Effective Writing, for Fiction and Nonfiction - Gary Provost (the observant longtime readers will remember I quoted him a while back).
This predates "The First Five Pages" and covers a few more topics. The advice in both books is similar, but since this one weighs in at over 300 pages it is slightly less recommendable.
I haven't read any other really good books on writing. Although, there was The Writer's Mentor, filled with collected quotes and authors' experiences - which run the gamut showing that every experience is unique.
Writing is one of the things I have always wanted to do in my life. Even signed up with NaNoWriMo last year (but dropped out because it wasn't my speed).
Why is everything always hard or complicated (I am not just picking on writing in this post)? I have a background in both electronics and computer science, but I would never say that these are hard. It requires constancy and sincere effort, but hard? No. (Note: this is not to say things just sail along smoothly. Ending up niched or obsolete is frightfully easy. Getting your foot in the door can be tough. Sometimes there are long hours and mad schedules, but I would never describe programming as staring at the monitor until blood drips out of your pores).
Comments
I wasn't feeling particularily bad about writing, I was just musing why writers complain how hard it is. (I think those were 3 wonderful quotes, enough to discourage anyone).
But I can't deny a paralysis comes over me when I actually want to move stuff from my head to paper (or computer). Something inside me keeps saying, "It has got to be perfect and worthy of being written."
I know...so many of those books about getting published can be discouraging. I have relegated myself to writing for myself, without thinking about getting published. And even then, I find that paralysis still creeps in.
Blogging's pretty good, though.
run around paris: no, I have not. I have no idea where to begin. I sometimes wish I had a more "shoot first, aim later" type of mentality.
MOI: it is exciting to know you have been published. Sorry to hear about an opportunity being closed on you. I would love to know about your experiences in submitting. How you chose where to submit. How you psyched yourself up to go through with it.
The group I'm in is really supportive, and while offering suggestions for improvements doesn't make you feel totally deflated. (Part of this is the fact that I think the members are selected pretty carefully... no ranters and angry critics allowed.)
When we meet, the submissions are read anonymously, giving us a fake veil of protection.
Some of us are published... but that isn't really the point, just a perk. In the mean time, it has given all of us the courage to share our writing more easily, whether through traditional means (the publishing industry) or just in love to people around us.
Very freeing.
I might consider joining a writer's group or circle - just at the end of a day of work, the last thing I want to do is interact with people. My normal social skills and personability, which my rate a 3 out of 10 the best of times, drop to an abysmal 0.5 or so by the end of a work day.
It is alot of work and costs $ to mail in things. But, they mostly all reply to you (in about 3 weeks) and the odd one gives you some direction for your type of work. My best response/compliment was for the poem I did on the totem pole (blogged sometime not too long ago)where the head of the company, eritage Pub. said that, "We don't receive too many poems with such powerful imagery".
I kept that letter!!
I also own the “1997 Writer's Market” book and have borrowed several other annual versions from the library (currently the 2006 version is at home). I also have several copies of Writers' Journal - they also sponsor writing contests.
One thing I have noticed is that women write the majority of articles in the magazines and books. I also noted article recycling by various authors. It is somewhat dismaying to pick up this months "Writers' Journal" and realize I have read one of the articles previously in another publication.