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| Original Image by Jared Tarbell |
We writers have all kinds of dreams. We dream of finishing a
book, or of being published, of learning to craft stunning poetry, or of
mastering the art of the gripping short story. Some dream of seeing their name
in print while others just want to finish something. Whatever your dream is, it’s
something that means a lot to you. It’s something that you’re willing to strive
towards, putting in much time and energy in the quest to achieve it.
I’ve spoken to quite a few writers, novelists who, like
myself, haven’t yet published anything. Most of them dream of publishing a book
one day. Some of them are positive, driven individuals who, I have no doubt,
are well on their way to becoming published authors. But over and over I have
heard a sad refrain of negative statements.
“I’m not good enough at writing.”
“No one would want to read my books.”
“I doubt anyone will ever publish my novels.”
These people have dreams of amazing things. Many of them are
very talented individuals. But they just don’t believe that their dreams could
come true. These poor writers have given
up before they’ve even begun. They expect to fail instead of hoping to succeed.
And when you think like that, you start to wonder if it’s even worth trying to
get publishing, seeing as you already know it’s not going to happen.
But is it really so certain that you’re not going to get your
book picked up by a publishing house? Are you so certain that you are a
terrible writer? The truth is that none of us are as bad as we think we are,
and everyone has the capacity to improve. If you believe in your dream and work
hard at it, there’s every chance that you might succeed. Sure, you’ll probably
fail a whole bunch of times. But you have it within you to reach your dream, if
you believe in it.
It can be very disheartening to look at writers like J.K.
Rowling, Stephen King, Marissa Meyer, or any of your favourite authors whose
names crowd your bookshelves. It seems impossible that one could ever reach
their level of mastery. But, once upon a time, these famous authors were no
more than people with a dream and no clue what they were doing. But they
believed in their dreams. They put in thousands of hours learning their craft,
writing novels, scrapping them, starting over, and being rejected over and over
until someone was willing to give them a chance.
There is no mastery in this craft of writing. You don’t stop
learning to write better, not when you’ve sold one book, or two, or twenty. Every
writer is still learning how to write better, how to craft a tighter plot,
better characters, and a more gripping story. And if you believe in yourself
and in your dreams, you can do great things. When you believe it can be done,
you are willing to put in the time to learn how to be good at what you love to
do, no matter how long it takes. And if you put in the time and hard work, you
might one day be a published author, or the proud owner of a finished
manuscript, or the writer of great poetry, or whatever your goal was. You have
the greatest capacity to reach your goal. But first you must believe it can be
done.
As a writer, i often ask myself this and it ends up making me stop writing. It's really sad because I know I CAN write if i so choose and I love it. So this post is really good because often, we lose sight of the main goal. Whenever I read a really good book, my self esteem drops slightly as I wonder, why can't I write like this? But the point isn't to write like another author, it's to be the best version of yourself.
ReplyDeletegreat post.
"But the point isn't to write like another author, it's to be the best version of yourself." This is so true Nova. It's hard to keep believing in your own writing when so many other people seem to write so much better. But really, the journey isn't about them. It's about being as good as you can personally be.
DeleteWriting falls under the arts and the hard knock truth about the arts is that unless you are successful and have sold a lot of books, it's going to be hard to place your writing out there. But posting my writing online has helped tons with my confidence and I carry much more self-esteem when I do post my writing, and someday, I hope I can make some sort of mark in the writing world.
ReplyDeletexoxo Morning
It can definitely be hard to get a foothold in the writing world. I think a lot of patience, hard work and trust goes into making a good writer. The most important thing to remember I think, is to keep working and keep trying. Because as long as you're trying to do your best and put your best work out there, you haven't failed, even if no one is buying it yet.
DeleteIt's sounds so pretty and yet it's so. dang. hard. I don't know. I like what you say and all and yet my gut-reaction to this post is, "She's just saying that. People like me really don't have a chance here." And it's a thought. Maybe a bad thought, but still a thought. And my thought from that thought goes something like this: yes, if you work at your goals you have a chance. So is repeating that lie over and over again just a thought that you don't really want to work at it? Things to think about.
ReplyDeleteI understand. It's very easy to say 'believe in your dreams'. But finding that belief is harder. It's not a matter of flipping a switch or repeating some words to yourself to change the way you think. Self-doubt doesn't mean that you don't want to work hard or achieve your dream. Lots of writers doubt whether they have a chance. They worry that they can't write well enough, that people aren't going to like what they write, or that they'll never be able to sell a book, even if they've sold several before. Self-doubt is part of being a writer I think. In the end, the only way to get past the self-doubt I think, it to accept that yes, you're not always sure that you have a chance, but you're willing to keep trying anyway.
DeleteSO INSPIRING AND MOTIVATING. :') Well said, Imogen!! And also a huge thing to keep in mind is: JK Rowling and Marissa Meyer aren't writing alone. They have professionals working with them. They have editors and agents and stuff and when they get stuff, they have these pros pushing them along. AND THAT MAKES A HUGE DIFFERENT. Hehe. I mean, not I've worked with an editor yet, but my book changed SO MUCH just working on edits with my agent. It feels so polished and crisp now and I know I couldn't have done that alone. So that is comforting!! PUBLISHED AUTHORS ARE NOT ALONE. *flails* Love this post and definitely bookmarking.
ReplyDeleteAw, thanks Cait. I'm so glad I could be even a little inspiring. And that is a very good point. Most of us writers are writing and editing on our own while all these people we're comparing ourselves to have worked with editors and agents and all kinds of professional people. I've been studying editing and the role of an editor as part of my uni course, and its no wonder that published writers are as good as they are with such talented editors and publishing teams behind them. The amount of people who work on a single book is ridiculous. So it's really a waste of time comparing ourselves to them because unless we have our own publishing team, we're nowhere near in the same situation.
DeleteGetting a book published is definitely something on my bucket list. I was actually fortunate enough to get one published when I was 9, I joined this club and the book published is categorised under Juvenile Fiction, haha. But that was then, and I'd love to publish another, now that I've learnt so much about the world and writing. The local authors in Singapore write very well and I've always looked up to them and their work, and you're right, we often do get a little discouraged when we encounter these brilliant books. But yes, we have to be determined and believe in ourselves because only then will our writing be more meaningful and perhaps even of greater quality. :) This is such an inspiring post, thanks for sharing. :)
ReplyDelete"we have to be determined and believe in ourselves because only then will our writing be more meaningful and perhaps even of greater quality." Exactly right. All the belief of other people can't really help us and our writing. We have to believe in ourselves and only then can we get past the block and write as well as we really can.
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