Writers: Masochists With A Keyboard
Stan Grimes
March 25, 2007
Out of the millions of writers on this planet, very few find themselves in the limelight of success, maybe 1 or 2 percent. The rest of us continue to write knowing we will not make it to the top of the heap. Why? Simple, we are writers, born to be, destined right or wrong…talented or not talented. We are historians of the supernatural, romance, and humor. We are the writers no one will remember, but still we exercise our obsession, our destiny…or our doom.
My real job is a social worker, but social work is a job. Writing is a luxury for me. It is a release of stress; it is a means to express my desire to escape the humdrum of reality. I need it no less than the NASCAR fan needs to follow his drivers to the pits. It is no less a need than the baseball fan needs to be at the game. Writing is a need, a lust, and a passion. It is a passion only quenched by the act of writing. Don't interrupt me when I'm trying to define a killer, a spirit, or a protagonist.
The fascinating thing about "unknowns" (new writers), we must also become editors, marketers, proofreaders, and business executives. Interesting, I think. Big time writers have someone to do all their dirty work, not newbies. Newbies in the business must wear a dozen hats in order to get their works published.
Publishers are a fascinating lot. To them it's about money and staff shortages. They're an incongruent lot, each with his/her own foibles. Some publishers want double spaced documents attached to an email. Others want single-spaced pasted into the body of an email. Still others want a synopsis, some want a play-by-play of your book, still others want the first three chapters of your book, and of course there others that one only a query. With all these mixed instructions, the writer has a job cut out for them. Being a writer is being a patient person willing to jump through the publishers' hoops.
Once you have jumped through the hoops, you may hear something from the publishers in four weeks, 8 weeks, or maybe 16 weeks. Also, you face the dreaded rejection letters after waiting for weeks. Being a writer can be disheartening and it can be a positive experience, but chances are you will be disappointed. Yet we write and write we must.
What is the solution? Give up, give in, keep improving, be determined, or die before you ever get a word published. I have written lousy books and I have written books I believe deserve a chance. I look forward to winning the Pulitzer Prize posthumously. Of course, I won't know it, but I certainly can dream; hence, the writer…a dreamer, a hoper, and a realist.
My real job is a social worker, but social work is a job. Writing is a luxury for me. It is a release of stress; it is a means to express my desire to escape the humdrum of reality. I need it no less than the NASCAR fan needs to follow his drivers to the pits. It is no less a need than the baseball fan needs to be at the game. Writing is a need, a lust, and a passion. It is a passion only quenched by the act of writing. Don't interrupt me when I'm trying to define a killer, a spirit, or a protagonist.
The fascinating thing about "unknowns" (new writers), we must also become editors, marketers, proofreaders, and business executives. Interesting, I think. Big time writers have someone to do all their dirty work, not newbies. Newbies in the business must wear a dozen hats in order to get their works published.
Publishers are a fascinating lot. To them it's about money and staff shortages. They're an incongruent lot, each with his/her own foibles. Some publishers want double spaced documents attached to an email. Others want single-spaced pasted into the body of an email. Still others want a synopsis, some want a play-by-play of your book, still others want the first three chapters of your book, and of course there others that one only a query. With all these mixed instructions, the writer has a job cut out for them. Being a writer is being a patient person willing to jump through the publishers' hoops.
Once you have jumped through the hoops, you may hear something from the publishers in four weeks, 8 weeks, or maybe 16 weeks. Also, you face the dreaded rejection letters after waiting for weeks. Being a writer can be disheartening and it can be a positive experience, but chances are you will be disappointed. Yet we write and write we must.
What is the solution? Give up, give in, keep improving, be determined, or die before you ever get a word published. I have written lousy books and I have written books I believe deserve a chance. I look forward to winning the Pulitzer Prize posthumously. Of course, I won't know it, but I certainly can dream; hence, the writer…a dreamer, a hoper, and a realist.
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