Jealousy -- According to Ann Lamott, it's a natural part of being a writer. I agree and I've suffered it many times. Thses days I'm usually able to get over it quicker. Happens when one sees another writer have the success you crave. Also happens when this person throws their successes in your face. That is the worst and often one has to take a time out from that person and that friendship. Finding a sympathetic listener is also good.
She spends a lot of words talking about how she felt and I know I've shared her thoughts. "Get over it." that is the hard part but it is possible. Think of the pressure such success lands on the author's shoulders after a big success. Sure you want that too. Or do you. I'm not sure I do any more, yet there are those dreams of best selling, award winning that occur. I don't think any author can stop thinking about that but one can's put their whole career on aiming for that goal. One learns with time to do the best they can at the moment.
I do advise every author to read Bird by Bird and see how the book can inspire them. This finished the second segment of the book and next week I'll see if the third part inspires me. I'm sure it will.
Showing posts with label Inspiration - Bird by Bird - Anne Lamott. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Inspiration - Bird by Bird - Anne Lamott. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Bird By Bird - Inspiration
For the next few weeks, Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott will be my inspiration. I actually heard her speak at a PAN retreat during an RWA convention and I must admit I felt spellbound and went out to buy the book.
In her introduction I found three things that struck home then and still do to day. The first is what happens when you see something you've written in print for the first time. "It provides some sort of primal verification: you are in print, therefore you exist. I think that explains the feeling. The great thing is that this happens every time a new book you've written appears on the shelf.
Another piece of advice that proves true is something her father said. "Do it every day." This is something I've tried to complete. In fact, I find if I go for too many days without writing I become cranky. What one is doing when they write even if it's no more than a paragraph is establishing a habit. Once established, a habit is hard to break.
"Publication is not all that it is cracked up to be. But writing is." She's correct here. For me the reward for writing is not the money or the awards but the entering another world peopled by characters I know as well as myself. That's because every character contains a bit of myself.
How about you? Do you agree with the things I've pulled from this book that push me to write every day. Why? Because that's what I am.
In her introduction I found three things that struck home then and still do to day. The first is what happens when you see something you've written in print for the first time. "It provides some sort of primal verification: you are in print, therefore you exist. I think that explains the feeling. The great thing is that this happens every time a new book you've written appears on the shelf.
Another piece of advice that proves true is something her father said. "Do it every day." This is something I've tried to complete. In fact, I find if I go for too many days without writing I become cranky. What one is doing when they write even if it's no more than a paragraph is establishing a habit. Once established, a habit is hard to break.
"Publication is not all that it is cracked up to be. But writing is." She's correct here. For me the reward for writing is not the money or the awards but the entering another world peopled by characters I know as well as myself. That's because every character contains a bit of myself.
How about you? Do you agree with the things I've pulled from this book that push me to write every day. Why? Because that's what I am.
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