When the writing gets tough, the tough keep writing . . .
The below opportune post came from literary agent Rachelle Gardner’s blog this week. I say opportune because I had just received the first 50 pages back (again) from the literary consultancy and it appears they want me to fine-tune it that bit more and if it evens out, they say they will call it in.
I feel as if I am forever hanging by my fingernails and at this point I confess to experiencing a real crisis of faith in myself. It seems I have been writing this story forever: shaping, brushing, erasing and putting in new strokes, pulling it out of a gold frame and putting it in a simple wooden frame; just on and on and all the time I really just want to move on to the next story. At this point I asked myself, does mainstream publication really matter? Why not leave it all and move on to the latest WIP?
So I began to turn away. But as I turned the email ‘ting’ rang and Rachelle’s blog popped up. This is what it said:
‘Then one day things get hard. Not just run-of-the-mill hard, but really hard, and you find yourself wondering, “What did I get myself into?” You think, “I can’t do this!” Then you realize, I made a commitment. I said I would do it… I made a promise… I am committed… I need to make this work. I have to do it, no matter how hard it is. When things are tough, it’s the commitment that carries you through.
In writing, when you come up against a challenge—say to yourself, “I call myself a WRITER. I committed to this writing journey. If I’m a writer, I can do this.”
Twenty years ago I read a great quote. It was in a quasi-spiritual new-agey kind of book but the wisdom was incredible and it has always stuck with me. The quote was: Argue for your limitations, and they’re yours. If you want to insist on your own weaknesses or shortcomings (“I’m a novelist, not a marketing person”), sure enough, those weaknesses will define you.
I encourage you to avoid letting your limitations characterize you. When the writing gets tough, the tough keep writing. Be a writer! And don’t let anything stop you.’
Was that Fate? My gosh, it was something, I can tell you!
So what did I do? I made a plan. I going to take a few days off from the manuscript and I plan to take maybe a few more, just to clear my head. I want to approach it as fresh as I can. Then, when I feel it pulling me and I begin to turn toward it voluntarily, then I shall ‘be a writer!’ And I won’t ‘let anything stop’ me . . .
I hope!
Wow. Talk about serendipity.
Yes, keep writing and keep trying the mainstream publication, I’m sure you can make it!
Best wishes
This was one of the most inspirational piece of writing I’ve read in a while, thank you so much for sharing this Prue… I do believe things happen for a reason and I do believe that there will be help when we truly need it.
It can get tough from time to time with the frustration and the self doubt- I know I’m guilty of both. But I made a commitment and I said that I want to write, that I want to become a writer and that promise I made to myself is what gets me through the tough times.
I loved the quote, I think I’m going to write it on a piece of paper and stick it somewhere were I can see all the time 🙂
Good luck with your manuscript, the tough times will pass and when it does, there will be an amazing book in your hands and it’ll be all worth it…
Lua, you are so right. It’s the self-doubt that is so hard. That and the fact that writers write in a bubble and have little feedback on their work. I submit to YWO.com forum, but the truth is that until an assessment is done by a major editorial consultancy, one doesn’t get the real feedback that one needs and the resultant work can be quite enormous and daunting.
In this instance, its not giant things like POV or plot directions, pacing or weak characters . . . its shortening long sentences, punctuation and upping the ante on the opening sentence of each chapter. it sounds small, but in fact it’s not and involves the dedication of someone who likes splitting hairs. Despite being an embroiderer and used to removing knots and undoing the undo-able, I am finding all this very hard, which is why I choose to remove myself from it for awhile.
Thanks for responding with your timely comments!