Posted March 23rd, 2011 under Inspiration, Writing
Managing Expectations While Keeping the Faith
div style=”text-align: left;”The way I see it, writers have to wear two hats. We have to be practical but we also have to be dreamers./divdivbr //divdivbThe Practical Writer/b/divdivThe publishing process is hard and takes a ton of work. You spend hours upon hours honing your craft, writing your draft, editing, polishing, researching agents and querying. I think it’s important to manage your expectations of this process./divdivbr //divdivEven if you do everything right, it may take you years to land a book deal. Meanwhile other writers will find success faster. The truth is, the economy is tight and less books are being published traditionally. Not every book finds a publisher, even if it’s good. It’s about hard work, but it’s also about iluck/i. /divdivbr //divdivIf you know these difficult truths early on, you’ll hopefully be less disappointed when things don’t go as planned. If you get a rejection, it’ll still sting but you’ll realize it’s part of the journey. All writers experience some struggle but that doesn’t mean you should give up. /divdivbr //divdivbThe Dreamer Writer/b/divdivOn the other hand, there has to be a side of you that believes in the power of dreams. You have to imagine all of the possibilities, no matter how far-fetched they seem. This is the part of you that takes chances because, why not? It could happen. Anything is possible. Yes, the road is hard but you’re willing to fight to get through it. You believe in your work and are ready to write book after book until and after your goal of publication is reached./divdivbr //divdivWriters need to be practical AND dreamers. I was originally going to say that they need to balance each other out, like yin and yang. But actually I think the dreamer side needs to be the strongest. If you don’t allow yourself to imagine what can be and think it’s possible, you won’t push yourself to get there.spanspan/span/span/divdivbr //divdivSo don’t be completely ignorant to the reality of the publishing process, but let yourself dream BIG. Eleanor Roosevelt said it best:/divdivbr //divdivspan class=”Apple-style-span” style=”color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; “img src=”http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-6ZesgAdBzow/TYlZU6O57EI/AAAAAAAABss/WefSrTihytQ/s400/Dare-2-Dream.jpg” border=”0″ alt=”" id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5587095028493839426″ style=”display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 398px; ” //span/divdiv style=”text-align: center;”span class=”Apple-style-span” style=”color:#0000EE;”spanspan/span/span/span/divspandiv style=”text-align: center;”ispan class=”Apple-style-span” style=”font-size:small;”a href=”http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_5tFf6vwe0W0/TUfdn6cvN_I/AAAAAAAAF9s/12LPTheMXl8/s640/Dare-2-Dream.jpg”image source/a/span/i/divdiv style=”text-align: center;”ibr //i/divdiv style=”text-align: left;”spanspan/span/spanspanspanspanspanbDo you think you’ve struck a good balance between being practical and being a dreamer?/b/span/span/span/span/div/span
Love the quote! br /br /I think writers should be dreamers until they get a polished draft. And then become practical during the query process. br /br /Of course this is easier said than done.
br /br /However, it we get caught up in the practical while we#39;re still creating our characters and novel world, it can be distracting!br /br /Believe, I know this from experience.
1Great post. I think it#39;s easy to forget to be the dreamer in the midst of trying to be practical. The real reason it takes such courage to be a writer is because of the dreaming — because it#39;s one profession where you have to believe in the reality of something that#39;s a bit wild and crazy. I think that act of faith is one of the most difficult things — far more difficult than all the query research in the world.
2Love Eleanor Roosevelt quotes! And I definitely try to balance the dreamer and practical sides of me, but at the end of the day publishing is a business so I try to keep that in mind too.
3Love this post. You know, I#39;d have to say that I do think I#39;ve struck a balance between being practical and yet still dreaming when it comes to my writing. I write stories that I really want to write, but I definitely pay attention to what#39;s happening in the genre to ensure my work will have a place.
4First off, I loved seeing the words quot;setting expectationsquot; in a writing context! I think that#39;s a first, and I#39;m loving it.br /br /quot;I was originally going to say that they need to balance each other out, like yin and yang. But actually I think the dreamer side needs to be the strongest.quot;br /br /Absolutely agreed. Before I started working in technology, I was all dreamer. This meant that I wrote tons of stuff but had no motivation to do anything with it. Doing stuff required research, effort, and all kinds of not-writing things.br /br /Working on projects and starting to see even my personal life in quot;projectquot; terms has helped balance out the dreamer side, a little. Sometimes I wonder if the practical side isn#39;t in fact devouring the loftier side of me, but I hope with reflection–such as is prompted by entries like this!–I#39;ll be able to remember both are an important part of both continuing the journey and reaching the (right) destination. br /br /Thanks for the fabulous post!
5@Karen: I agree. It#39;s smart to keep the practical side at bay when writing your drafts. You don#39;t want to get too caught up in the publishing process and have it hinder your creativity. Definitely easier said than done!br /br /@Kiernan: Thanks! You#39;re so right. It#39;s MUCH harder to have faith that your writing dreams can come true than to do all the research. You have to believe it can happen even when things get hard.br /br /@NiaRaie: Eleanor Roosevelt was one smart lady!br /br /@Jennifer: That#39;s great. You#39;re being very smart!br /br /@Deb: I#39;m glad you liked it! I hope you#39;re able to find that balance and reach your destination.
6Phhht. Practicality is silly. I like rainbows and unicorns.
He he he. KIDDING. Yes, you should be practical in the sense that you have a realistic understanding of the business side of this. But I agree the Dreamer side should be bigger.
7This is an awesome post, and so true. You need both, but the amounts will fluctuate. There will be days when the Practical Writer rules, but most of the time The Dreamer Writer should be the queen.
8@Lisa: Hehe
I love rainbows and unicorns too! br /br /@Stina: Yes, the amounts totally fluctuate. RIght now I#39;m focusing on the dreamer side as I finish my draft.
9Dreaming is essential, I think. I believe in the power of positive thoughts. That said, the practical me knows it won#39;t just happen — gotta roll up my sleeves and work it. Great post, as usual.
10I learned early to strike a balance between being practical and dreaming. While it#39;s easy to think about what I want to achieve as a writer, I#39;ve had to work that much harder to become a better writer and put in the time to make submissions. Many of us have dreams, but only those who are willing to work at them come close to achieving anything like their dream.
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