With apologies to Mr. Vonnegut, this is probably an example of writing going up its own asshole. It happens sometimes. I try not to write these things too often. I know of a few writers* who seem to do nothing but post about all the different struggles and "writerly" thoughts they have and soliciting advice for their work that seems to have more to do with "Hey, look, I'm a writer!" than getting any sort of real advice. And God damn does that get annoying. So while I may do some more navel-gazing in this resurrected blog, I am going to try to avoid doing this very often. *One in particular, but that person shall go nameless here. It's not really the point. I find that whole enterprise kind of distasteful, which is maybe why I'm not a financially successful author. It seems that posting non-stop about just how much of a writer you are is like a couple on Facebook constantly posting about how much in love they are and how great their spouses are and all that. It's fine if it's every now and then. When it becomes a daily thing, you can pretty well assume that relationship is thoroughly on the rocks. It's the same thing with writing. The more you shout from the rooftops that you are a writer, the more dreadful your prose is more than likely. I understand that self-promotion is part of the game. But at some point you're just looking for people to recognize that you are a great and powerful writer. And guess what? There are only a very select few people who you should ever be in awe of as a writer. And that very select few is going to vary so wildly from person to person. But if the best place you have to talk about your writerly ways is your Facebook profile, you probably don't qualify for anybody's handful. And that's fine. Writing, in and of itself, is nothing special. Anybody can be a writer. We all have the ability to tell stories, and that's all writing fiction really is. Just writing your story down. It just takes time and dedication. Everything else is just noise. Let's not make it into some holy enterprise.* Just because you can jot down some prose does not make you particularly special. *Unless you are writing a Bible or something, I guess, but you probably aren't adding anything new at that point. From what I can gather from other writers,* the best writing doesn't come from searching for attention anyway. The best art comes from reaching an audience of one. Whether that audience is somebody external or for yourself, focusing in on one individual and writing for that person makes the work more personal, more relatable, and just overall stronger. *And much more successful writers, I might add. So, yes, it is annoying to see all this. But I get it. I was a new writer once, too. I hopefully was never that bad, but I get the impulse. It's intoxicating at first when you realize what you can do. But then you eventually come to realize that you don't need the whole world urging you on. The stories will just come from you, and it gets to the point where it just doesn't matter if another living soul ever sees them. You just have to get them out. I think I've reached that point. I try pretty hard not to post much about my own writing. I share my blog posts, mostly so anybody who is interested knows one has been written. I post my wordcounts in November mostly to keep myself accountable, but I think I'm done with that, too.* Beyond that, I usually post once about a book being done, and that's about it. I don't push it more than that. It's about half-and-half crippling self-doubt and wanting to avoid annoying people. Maybe I'm just annoyed that others apparently don't have the same hang-ups I do. *As a side note, I might be done with NaNoWriMo as a whole. Not because I don't believe in the program any more. Not at all. Still a huge fan. But I don't feel like I need the crutch any more. Maybe I'll learn I do, I don't know. But I think I would take more pleasure in trying to mentor a new writer through it at this point than doing it myself. So that covers the things around writing, but what about writing itself? Well, here's what I've discovered about myself. I am a good writer. Maybe even a very good writer. I have ideas for days and I can churn out text. That's no issue. Right now, I've got ideas for two different fantasy books* and a story similar to The Big Chill.** That part is fine. The problem is I'm not a very good editor. It's not that I would necessarily even call myself a bad editor. Just an disinterested one. It's like pulling teeth to me. Why go over all the stuff I'd already written when I have to many new, cool ideas I could be writing? *Which would likely both turn into series. **I've never watched The Big Chill. I only know three things, and learned them in this order: 1. It has a killer soundtrack (thanks to my parents for having that tape growing up). 2. It's about a suicide bringing friends back together. 3. The dead guy is Kevin Costner. That's it, and that's all I want to know until after I get around to writing that book. It's important, and I know that. I need to do some editing so I can get the sci-fi series I just wrote into a hardcover anthology edition. But it's just not my thing. I'd rather be creating. Because that's where the rush comes, from building something new. The same way it is in any art, I would assume. But I will tell you this, when I do get this anthology released, I promise you I won't inundate you with it here or on social media. I'll let you know, but there's no reason to beat you over the head with it. Besides, it's like 700 pages worth of full-size pages. That would hurt!
Mike Johnson
1/22/2016 11:45:35 am
Interesting. Comments are closed.
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