It is not real work unless you would rather be doing something else.
Scottish novelist and playwright, Sir James M. Barrie, was born on this day in 1860 (died 1837).
Every working writer knows that the route to success is simply to submit, submit, submit. The rejection letters will far outnumber the contracts.
More often than not, your submissions end up in Neverland.
Do you believe in my novel? Say quick that you believe. If you believe, clap your hands!
And perhaps share this post.
Overnight success as a writer is as unlikely as overnight success as an actor.
To which I should add that if you’re a publisher or a casting director, hit me up in the comments.
With all due respect to Sir James writing is work. Writing well is hard work. Even if you enjoy it.
It’s not all sitting in coffee shops cranking out the next great American novel.
Mugshots (click the pic)
I’d like to be.
More often it’s laboring in the home office with the cat yowling in the background (he is as I write this), or a neurotic dog backed up against the wheels of your chair so that you can’t move without disturbing her. At which point she’ll want to go out.
Also true.
Writing involves reading, and research, and Google. It involves putting together sentences only to turn around and re-write them. It involves editing your own work. Telling yourself that, as beautiful and brilliant as they may be, you’ve written too many words.
And then, when you know that your words are perfect, it involves an editor sending you those words “Thanks, but no thanks.”
So then, you start all over again.
In Neverland, you don’t have to grow up.
In Writer land, you do. And you have to keep with it.
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