I thought I was going to make it through a blog post without sharing any links, but then I read Natalie’s blog. The topic of her post is one that has been on my mind for quite some time. I have thought about writing my own blog post about it, but haven’t done it yet. Perhaps I will do that soon. For now, I will just point you in the direction of “Teen Girls LOVE Adverbs”. Nicely ranted, Natalie. My thoughts exactly.
For my fun news of the day: I got an email last night (via the contact form on my site) from a twelve-year-old girl thanking me for the writing advice. It makes me feel all kinds of warm and fuzzy inside.
And, now:
Personality Toolkit: Optimism
Henry Ford said, “whether you think that you can, or that you can’t, you are usually right.” Whether you like his cars or not, you cannot deny the wisdom in this statement (okay, feel free to deny it if you want–I can’t stop you, but I will think you are wrong).
So, in case you missed the memo: writing is hard work. So, let’s say you do all the work and write a novel. Yay! Now it is time to send your baby out into the world for the first time. You put him (yes, Shiny New Manuscript is a boy-’cause it’s my blog and I said so) in his best outfit, shine his shoes, and comb his hair just so. He is shining and eager to please. You send him on his merry way, then wait (impatiently) for him to come back from his play-date.
The world is yours; it is only a matter of time before people are falling at your feet, declaring you the best novelist of all time. Then your baby comes back home. He is tattered, beaten, and covered in red. Is it blood? No. It is the notes of your first readers. Perhaps Shiny New Manuscript was not ready to go out and play yet. Sure, on the surface he was polished and poised. But underneath? Does not play well with others.
What do you do at this point? Is there much wailing and gnashing of teeth? Do you get a spell of the am-I-crazies? Think, maybe, just maybe, Shiny New Manuscript is not publishable? In fact, nothing I write is publishable? Maybe I was fooling to ever think I could be an author? I suck, I suck, I SUCK. And I quit.!
Or, you realize all the red oozing from between the pages of SNM will help make him better. You set to work revising SNM, adding scenes, taking away scenes, clarifying relationships, and tightening prose. You fix the grammatical mistakes–the ones you are appalled you ever made. You spruce SNM up again. Again, you dress him up, shine his shoes, and comb his hair–in a better style this time.
This time, you are sure SNM has graduated from the play-dates in the kiddie-pool. Yep. Shiny New Manuscript is ready for the deep end. Maybe even a leap from the diving board. You send SNM out to agents (after the appropriate query, of course). Again, you wait (impatiently) for a response.
The agents will love SNM. How could they not? You poured your heart and soul into making him everything he can possibly be. Whether you admit it or not, you begin to have visions of agents begging to represent you, editors fighting over SNM, auctions, and Great Big Advance.
Then the email shows up. Sorry, not for me. Again. And again. And AGAIN. With the emails come suggestions. SNM does great with Social Skills, but definitely needs to work on Geography. Or SNM is great in during Story Time, but has issues with Structure. Sob.
I could go on, but I think you get the point. The hard work of writing does not stop once a manuscript is written. For most, nothing about getting published is easy. I would be willing to bet that even those who seem to have just breezed through the whole publication process put in countless hours of work-we just didn’t see it.
So where does optimism factor into all of this? This is, after all, supposed to be a post about just that. Well, how about I clear things up. It comes into play all the time.
Optimism is what powers writers through the day. When critiques come in, optimism is what helps us revise instead of cry. When our manuscripts are rejected by agents or publishers, optimism is what helps us keep writing new material.
And when we finally reach our dreams and are published, it is optimism that gets us there.
There is no room for pessimism in a writer’s life; pessimism will get you nowhere. When the negative thoughts start to sneak into your mind, remember how great you really are and push them aside.
Because, “whether you think that you can, or that you can’t, you are usually right.”
I encourage you to think you can. And be right.
2 Comments
Of course SNM is a boy. It’s a MANNIE.
Now that I got the terrible joke out of the way, yes yes yes! The pessimistic writers eventually get discouraged and quit. They will never know what would happen if they kept at it just a little longer.
It might be a terrible joke, but it definitely made me laugh out loud. And get weird looks from co-workers.