Author life is a cliche: many outside the publishing world imagine authors making gazillions of dollars at super short notice.
I blame movies, especially romcoms but also thrillers, where a manuscript shoved into a cabinet is discovered by friend/ significant other/ potential love interest and promptly shared with either a power shark-agent or editor.
That very chic individual reads the manuscript overnight, and, all googly-eyed by morning, decides to sell it (agent) or buy it (editor) for millions of dollars.
The author promptly goes on book tours and appears on TV, and buys mansions/ villas/ castles. She then tries to write another novel fuelled by caffeine ( or other stimulants, depending on the genre of the movie), gets blocked, fails deadlines and so on.
As a naive teenaged reader, I’d fallen for a few of the stereotypes. The author was a distant creature in those days and, more often than not, dead by the time I took their book up for reading. To be perfectly honest, I never thought of authors as real people.
Since I started off writing short stories, I knew already that I wasn’t minting any huge six-figure deals. I also figured out pretty quick I had no talent for this gig. It took me years to get to any basic writing chops. To write a line I wasn’t embarrassed by. To show my work and get feedback. To learn from that feedback and write a line or two I wasn’t ashamed of. To take courage in both hands and send my work out. To receive rejections. To grieve over them. To move on and send stories out again. To write more stories. To fail. To receive more rejections. Then, an acceptance. More. Critique groups. Writing novels. Failing. Querying. Being agented. Being frozen on sub. Publishing. Angsting at the lack of marketing. Promoting. Tearing hair. Realizing that being published is just one goal post in an entire caravan of shifting goal posts. And so on and so forth.
The author life isn’t all roses, but it does have its rewards, the biggest being I can work in my pyjamas from any corner of the world. It’s rather different from the sort of thing I used to imagine many years ago, but it’s not all bad. At the very worst it’s messed with my mental health, but at its best, it’s brought me friends and the love of strangers.
Having readers connect with my work, makes it all worthwhile on some days I spend writing, crossing out, rewriting, and tossing out the same paragraph again, and yet again.
Dear writer, what about you? Has your author life turned out the way you imagined it?
This post is part of an event held each first Wednesday of the month: Insecure Writer’s Support Group. Founded by the Ninja Cap’n Alex J. Cavanaugh, the purpose of the group is to offer a safe space where writers can share their fears and insecurities without being judged.
The awesome co-hosts for the May 7 posting of the IWSG are Jennifer Lane,Jenni Enzor,Renee Scattergood,Rebecca Douglass,Lynn Bradshaw, and Melissa Maygrove!! Please go and visit them if you like.
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When I think of the authors life J.D. Salinger always comes to mind. The guy wrote one book ( it feels like) and it was so successful it drove him into hiding-permanently! He was not built or ready for any of that notoriety at all!
Oh, I saw your book in the library a couple weeks ago ( The Blue Bar). Thought that was so cool!
Pat
I agree that it can be nice to write in PJ’s – and from anywhere in the world. However, on some writing days – when a project is full steam ahead and I am in the zone – or have the great flow and the days turn into weeks – well I have to get dressed for my writing days. I then take lots of breaks – and have a pull up bar (that i usually just hang from) and use a rebounder to keep the circulation going.
I think the hardest part of being a writer is that it requires a oot of sitting and screen time – and the body needs to be cared for while producing.
enjoyed your post.
xxx
Yvette
“… it does have its rewards, the biggest being I can work in my pyjamas from any corner of the world.” Lol. I love writing in my pajamas. I could ditto most of your reflections on writing, Damyanti. We have to do it for the love of it, because “writing in our pajamas” is about as good as it gets.
All rather depressing! What made me a writer, I think, is that I’m an introvert, and that I struggle with human relationships. Those are not the life skills that make a good marketer!
I do have a tip for you Damyanti, for when you find yourself reworking the same paragraph over and again. I would suggest leaving it as it is and writing on beyond it. You know you’ll be going back over what you’ve written another time. Chances are, at that time you’ll be able to see exactly where you were going wrong, and be able to correct it straight away. That works for me. Sometimes it’s better to just write, even though you know what you’re writing isn’t exactly what you would have it be, rather than allowing yourself to get stuck, frustrated, and maybe even begin to question your own abilities.
It’s inspiring to read about your struggles, because you write so beautifully, you seem like a natural talent. I’d love to know if there are any particular books or classes you found most helpful as you learned the craft.
I can’t believe grown adults fall for that cliche of writer’s instant success!
You sound like you’ve stuck to your writer’s journey really good in spite of the odds which there will be a lot of for almost any writer.
If you can write with the the same motivation in your pajamas as in your day clothes, then you have good self-discipline. Myself? No way! If I tried writing seriously in my pajamas I would get lazy and slack off too easily. I have to be fully dressed when I write (my journal can be an exception lol).
It can a tough life for an author as those stories when they pop into your head just have to come out as soon as they begin to show themselves as a visual in your head. LOL. Fortunately I decided not to write a novel as that requires months and even years of editing and reediting even before sending to a publisher who has to put their two bits into the process. Marketing is the big issue as that part is generally not enjoyable as your time has to be regulated to pursue the marketing plan. It can be very stressful and even relationship threatening. So I’ll stick with short stories and the pleasure of writing without all those pressures.
Publishing hasn’t turned out as I expected before I knew better, but it has its rewards. Now that I know how little I like marketing, I’m happy to be self-published. Pretty much what Rebecca Douglass said in an earlier comment.
Oh yes, the movies really make being an author so easy but I suppose it’s only true for a few lucky people. Most of us have to do a lot of hard work and lose a lot of sleep and basically trying but never quite succeeding.
Have a lovely day.
Movies never get it right! Many famous writers were not famous in their lifetimes! Writers who are financially successful are often pressured into writing the same thing over and over ….You have to write for the love of writing.
I have been chronically ill for 36 years now – what else could I do?
The profession I trained for – research physics – has not place for people who can’t think very long or on demand.
But I’m stubborn, taught myself from books (no energy to do much in the way of classes (one, Community College, six weeks) or cons (one, actually went to Bouchercon in Philadelphia in 1998)), and the rest is the autodidact route.
Marketing still…
But there will be a legacy. And it’s kept me saner than I would have been just sick.
I was so disappointed when I learned that even trad published writers have to do so much of their own publicity. Since that’s the part I suck at, I thought that getting a contract would free me from it. So, not being a fan of deadlines, I’ve stuck with self-publishing and get my joy from those occasional comments or notes that come my way about how much someone loved my book.
If we know going in what our priorities are as a writer, our natural human skills, and stop comparing ourselves with others’ journeys–we can all save ourselves a lot of bitterness, and find joy in the process. Thank you for sharing your perspective, Rebecca.
Hi Damyanti, Thank you for that reality check ! I shall re-calibrate my expectations suitably ! Thank you for sharing.
I wish a lot of us got the reality check early. I pair all my success stories with accounts of the failures that came before. Movies gloss over it.
I had no idea when I started that authors were expected to do their own marketing. I had no illusions of making millions, but I never dreamed I would need to think (and act) like a marketer.
I had no such illusions, but I definitely thought trad authors could do more: truth is, a publisher can move the needle much faster than an author can. The amount of push that goes into putting a book in the hands of distributors, libraries, and the media can do a lot more than an author with a popular social media account.
Yes, that makes sense.
I remember early in my writing time, I was thrown out of a writing class I paid for! They even refunded the money. Luckily, I was too naive to give up.
I’ve never heard of such a thing! Did the teacher deem you a lost cause?
That’s such a strange and unprofessional thing to do on their part. So glad you never gave up.
Messed with my mental health – funny!
I still remember the year you wrote stories for the A to Z Challenge. Bet that feels like a lifetime ago.
I agree that movies have really perpetuated the stereotypes of writers being rich and famous. That’s what people always tell me when I say I write–even though most authors, especially children’s authors, make very little. I also wasn’t aware until recently how much authors are expected to market their own books.
It is such an up and down journey, but you are right, having someone else read your work is worth it.
Jenni, most writers have always been poor–the ones with storied success are the outliers. This truth hits hard for many authors who get into trad publishing hoping to make money. I did so much of my own marketing, but sadly, unless you invest a ton of money you can’t move the needle as a trad published author. You need a certain business mindset, to treat your work like a small business to actually make it work. Some indie published authors have the business acumen, the ability to write quickly on spec and drill down into a niche–and they can actually make a living out of their writing.
It was indeed a lifetime ago, Alex. I was such a naive author in those days.