This video caught my eye, because it put into perspective a reality fiction writers experience all the time: failure. If you’re going to write fiction, get ready; your work will ba rejected again and again. More often than not, to those you know and love, you will look like a failure.
An essential part of the maturing process for any writer is learning to soldier through the “failures.” You must. Otherwise, you might not be around for the succcesses when they finally arrive.
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Failure is a fact of life for any profession. I’m trying to get a day job in IT right now–one of the most stable professions in the US. More jobs than candidates to fill them, the experts say…but for each dozen resumes I submit, only one phones for an interview (if I’m lucky). I have a single month’s worth of living expenses in my bank account and I can solidly project a total of one sale of my self-published novel to the nice little lady in California who brought me into the world. Sometimes I feel like locking myself in my room and crying, too.
But the fact of the matter is, it wouldn’t do any good. The only thing I can do is keep plugging away, filling out applications and moving on to other novels until something sticks. I’m not going to be the next Walt Disney, but I’m pretty sure with enough tenacity I can keep us off the streets.
Hard times, Tamara, but as Woody Allen said, success is mostly just showing up.
Plugging away, or the desire (or need) to keep plugging, is what eventually pays off. The economy’s awful, the economy’s great, whatever. As self-motivated fiction writers, the only thing we can depend on is our compulsive love of narrative and our personal tenacity. Everything else changes. Like weather. One day there’s a slight template shift in the profession, or an uptick in the economy. Your book is accepted and published to a handful of great reviews. Play your hand right, and presto, you’re a success.
BUT –– and here’s the crucial factor –– not if you’ve left the field. What if Michael Jordan had thrown up his hands and not gone out for basketball the following year? As tough as things may be right now, it seems me you’re well positioned for success.