9 pm and 82 degrees.
So are you OK in the place you're in? When I first decided to actually finish a novel (and yes that one is deep in my drawer to be taken out and dusted off when I am ready to revise it) I thought how wonderful it would be to have an agent.
Four novels later. Newly agented. I was euphoric...but...wouldn't it be better, I thought, to have my novel SOLD?
Enter the SHARK of discontentment.
That anti-muse which all writers have.
He swims through your subconscious.
Your novel sells.
You are in transports. Life is wonderful. Maybe it even goes for a good deal...But...not a significant deal...Or maybe a significant deal but not a MAJOR deal.
Like Roseanna danna says,"It's always something."
That shark again.
You know your life will be amazing once that novel is published and out selling in bookstores.
Release day comes.
You are content for a nanosecond.
Amazon numbers are made just for the obsessive compulsive author.
So are Barnes and Noble.
And reviews.
And. And. And.
That pesky shark again.
So maybe we should all learn from Girl Kitty.
The Place is the thing.
Enjoy where you're at.
You go Girl Kitty. You go!
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20 comments:
Excellent product placement..... Screw the sharks. You're a fabulous writer. Enjoy the Maui conference. Oh I wish I could freeze my kids for the week and join you!
Hey now there's an opportunity:
Cryogenic babysitting service...I wonder if it would work with husbands too?
Don't sweat the petty things and don't pet the sweaty things. You're right, it's always something. So don't sweat it!
I think I would say, "The writing is the thing." If you love working, if you love your words, if you love putting them together in ways that are pleasing to you, well then all the rest is icing on the cake. Very nice, of course, especially if you want to make a living, but at the end of the day, you must be prepared to step out of the limelight (it always fades eventually!) and get back to work.
A writer once told me, "The best cure for getting over writing a book is to begin writing a new one."
Dogs too...
Like they say, happiness is an inside job... :)
I think Perry, too, understood this.
I agree about not reading reviews. Have your agent read them! xxx
I spied The Penny Tree!:)
I think this is a great post, but boy it's easier said than done. *sigh* Especially when you have an agent but are as-yet unsold, because the whole point of getting an agent is to get to the next step.:) But I am very, very happy with my agent so the desire to get to the next step is a hopeful one, not an unhappy one.
You're awesome!!
My anti-muse is on the attack, Pat; especially since I was out sick for 2 weeks from work. Great post! :*)
Timely post...
I had an attack of the anti-muse yesterday, when a member of my writers' group said what she didn't like about my protag is exactly what she's all about and what the story is all about--it took a stiff talking to by another member to make me realize how stupid I was.
If we all liked the same things, ice cream would come in one flavor and Baskin Robbins would be out of business (and Ben & Jerry's never would have gone into business). It would be a sad sad world without Ben & Jerry's. And without Lottery.
Here's to the muses!
See you Saturday?
Great post and very true. We all have an anti-muse, pesky little thing that it is. I'm looking forward to Maui. Now that it's just a week away I can hardly wait.
As they say...
Be careful what you wish for...
I want to come back as one of your cats.
Except I'll stay out of your husband's underwear cubby. Promise!
Yeah, always something. How 'bout getting the news that the book has sold and the editor is ready to talk, and four months later you're still waiting for the draft contract?
Always something...
Loving the place you're in is hard.
Wow, this is something I've had to teach myself over and over!
Right now I'm STILL EDITING and totally second guessing myself...but I've made the decision to get this project as perfect as I can, and I won't query it again until I feel it's THERE. It's so tempting to say, once I have an agent it'll be all good. But, I've been learning that there's so much more after that.
And that's why I'm trying to enjoy Edit #8.
Good post- thanks!!
OK, I know you probably don't know anything about High School Musical 2 but that's the same message this Disney-wonderment shares. Love the place you're in now!
It's the universal message of letting go of the past, planning for but not obsessing over the future and living for today.
By the way, I'm looking out my front window at 2 dragonflys playing around my lilac bush.
Pat, we should ask writer Bev Katz Rosenbaum about the cryogenic sitter service - her second book in the "I was a Teenage Popsicle" series just came out! It's called "Beyond Cool." Great titles aren't they? I met Bev on the ChickLit loop. I'm sure I'd have been frozen if my folks had been given the chance - instead they sent me to boarding school, a close second!
Great post, which caught me when I am playing computer games instead of writing. And blog hopping instead of writing. And generally goofing off instead of writing.
But my best anti-Muse is simply the thought, "You Suck." Hard to overcome that one when it strikes. But usually a good night's sleep fixes it. :)
Glad to see you survived the quake (aren't those fun?), and the baby hurricane, and seem to be having so much fun promoting LOTTERY.
That damn shark is busy nibbling on my psyche. My situation is on a MUCH smaller scale than yours, but... no reviews! No feedback! Not a peep! I'm trying not to obsess, but it's really hard.
I'm just concentrating on the second, and third, and fourth books.
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