I have spent the last month putting the final touches on my next book. (Working title: Slow Cooker Recipes for the Holidays), and I was/ am really struggling with it. I realized that the root of the problem is that I'm convinced that the book is utter rot and that I've wasted pretty much most of this last year writing it. Ugh... how depressing.
I was talking to my friend Ed, who himself is a successful writer, and he sent me this link.
The advice is from literary agent Rachelle Gardner, and she observes that: "Usually there comes a point in the editing process where they feel like they're not just sick of it. They're convinced it's Really Bad. Like Piece of Cr*p bad. Like, OMG the publisher is going to cancel my book bad."
Yep, that's me.
Her advice: "When you get like this? It's a "Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain" moment. The man behind the curtain is your insecurity, trying to control things while pretending it knows All.
It doesn't. It knows nothing. So, do nothing.
Ignore that voice. Just push through it. Keep going."
Somehow it's very comforting knowing that other people feel the same way. I just hope that I'm as wrong about my book as they have been about theirs.
Thanks Ed!
7 comments:
For me, that moment often comes even earlier than the editing process. It comes in the middle of writing something for the first time...
I do okay drafting, I think. Usually don't think about the quality.
I found you googling another Brad... as a fiction writer, and a chef- I'm damn glad to have found you. I'll be back to read the rest of your blog- and I hope some slow cooker recipes!
You know, if you were writing a slow-cooker book, you'd have the advantage of actually sampling the recipes... Maybe the Sociologist's Slow-Cooking Secrets Cookbook needs to be a reality.
Keeping up belief in something you've created can be quite a task. I collaborated on a musical play last year with a friend, and she was the one who acted as cheerleader throughout (as well as coming up with heaps of good ideas). Now that I'm writing the music - on my own - it's more difficult, because that isn't her thing, and I could do with a music supporter now!
Hi Rachel,
I'm an okay writer and not much of a cook at all... but may you'll find something. :-)
Great idea, Ed!
Mike, sounds like this is something that spans just writing.
Post a Comment