The reality is you're putting your work out there with millions of other books. Most people won't throw tomatoes. They'll just ignore your books.robin_hart said:I should be proud of my work, writing is what I've always been able to do easily, and yet...I feel like I'm going to be led naked to the stocks where people can throw tomatoes at me. And I'll die.
So how do you do it? How do you find the audacity to roll off your laptop and let your work go?
No! Don't do it! If I can give you any advice, it's that.robin_hart said:Ha ha you're right. Thank you for the replies, everyone. Maybe everyone will ignore them and I'll go to law school, whistling like nothing ever happened...but I'll probably still be writing, and that's what matters I guess in the end.
I LOVE this. I don't relate to it completely, because I fear being known much more than I fear obscurity. If I fail, my family will still only know I'm a hobo. If I succeed in reaching the people I wrote to reach, then my family and friends will still only know I'm a hobo. But either way I'm not accomplishing anything by laying on my laptop, except possibly creating the need for a new laptop.vrabinec said:The problem to overcome isn't tomatoes, it's what happens to those delusions and dreams writers have BEFORE they publish, if nobody wants to read what they've written. That's not an easy thing to deal with. Usually, family and friends know the author is writing a book, and they are supportive, yet the author fears and rightfully so in most cases that behind his back they are skeptical. Nobody in our family ever did anything noteworthy, what gives me the audacity to think I can? That sort of thing. The rejection will hurt, if it comes, the dreams will turn to ash and be replaced by the bitterness of being "just another slob who thought they could write". Agony for years and years, without even the modicum of success a Selieri had in Amadeus. At least he was the patron saint of mediocrity. If your book doesn't sell, if nobody buys it, you'll be left in a private darkness in Dante's ninth level of hell with the rest of the talentless souls, knowing nothing will ever again offer up the kind of hope that book did before you hit publish and verified your lack of talent.
The again, someone might read it, and you might brighten up their day and they'll have YOU to thank for it. Is that worth it? Is it worth the risk? Because, if you DON'T hit the publish button, then you're in that ninth level of hell anyway. You just have a crutch to prop you up, "I could've been a writer, but I never tried."
I missed this, but isn't it funny how many lawyers are writers? Makes me think.Amanda Brice said:No! Don't do it! If I can give you any advice, it's that.
(Just kidding...I'm a lawyer, and I'll probably never quit the day job, but there's a reason why I write fiction in my spare time...)
Thank you thank you thank you. This is what I needed to hear. I need to realize there are mental reasons for why I'm running, and face them. You captured how I feel, and the soothing influence of knowing that someone else feels the same as you is exactly what I hope to give others with my book. Right on Christian.Christian Price said:I started 1 year ago. I tried to write my first book 18 months ago, hated the book and shelved it. Forgot about it and enjoyed the hollidays. My souse saw a small add for a contest and said, "enter it, write 'your' story"...well, my story has always and I mean always been greeted with a good deal of derision for the better part of twenty five years. I knew "what" she wanted me to talk about, but I simply couldn't tell this story. There is a "Wonderful Life" element wrapped up in it but in my case I let go of the bridge before I encountered Clarence and my story was savage and violent, nothing sweet and romantic at all about it. I figured out how to tell it in a short novel.
The story grew beyond the bounds of a short so I never entered it. I decided to publish it. I had a panic attack. I was ordered when I was a kid to never speak of it the night I took my own life with a hunting rifle. I remember crying on the couch next to my wife, "I can't" that's twenty five years of insitnct tryig to protect me from people calling me names etc.... so I floated the book under a pen name and to be honest, I was ashamed for being that afraid of something I worked so hard to write and I was proud of. I liked the pen name. I took my son's name and a name from my wife's side of the family. But, I still hated I was that afraid I was going to be censored once again. I fell, I was broken and hurting... But, I rose up over it and survived it to never again fall to it. I was suprised, I sold 200 copies of my first book. People read it!! They liked it! They messaged me through F/B and encouaged me to face my giant. I sat down and wrote about my battle with something people are afraid of, won't talk about it, hate, say it'll send you to hell if you die from it... etc/etc/etc... In fact my anxiety was so bad it triggered terrible bouts of depression, PTSD attacks I ended up in the hospital in May. I got messages on my F/B wall, "Stop writing the d*mn book" I had to camp out infront of the cave and stir up that old monster to see it, hear it, smell it once more. I finished it. No pen name. My full legal name on the front cover, telling the world "I fell when I was teen. I was broken and hurt. I learned a lesson. Life is a gift and worth the living. If you are hurting like I did, don't do it. My point, the thing you are most afraid of if you can over come it, usually has the greatest rewards attached to it.............. please publish it. It's so worth it.
