……..to want, to need to be writers?? I am happy (and nostalgic) to report that the world of writers has not changed all that much…..I came across these quotes and laughed. Writers of the World! We are not alone!
John Steinbeck: ‘The profession of book writing makes horse racing seem like a solid, stable business.’
Edna St. Vincent Millay: ‘A person who publishes a book willfully appears before the populace with his (or her)
pants down….if it is a good book nothing can hurt you. If it is a bad book nothing can help you.’
Somerset Maugham: ‘There are three rules for writing a novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are.’
Trisha Sugarek: ‘Writing is a lonely business. You pour your heart and guts into the written 
word, often exposing what you’ve experienced in your own life. You nurture it, feed it, trim its toe-nails, wash its hair, dress it up and send it out into traffic.’ And then you wait. And wait some more. Then, after months, you get the all important e-mail. You’re half afraid to open it. Will this be the day? A publisher has realized the potential of your work is willing to spend their money on publishing your book? ‘This is it! This is the one!‘ Nope! Another polite message of regret-filled rejection. Closing with the hope that you have the best of luck with your writing career.
Now, please don’t misunderstand me…..I have no right or business being on the same page as these illustrious writers….but it is my blog after all….and I do have something to say. And as corny as it may sound, I want to reassure other writers that nothing has really changed. We are not unique in our misery. Based on the quotes here we are certainly in good company. To read that these authors had the same doubts, the same fears, the same dreams……….well, it gives me hope and the courage to continue. As if I had a choice!
Here’s the good (no, great) news! It does happen. After sixteen years of writing full time, I have recently contracted with a publisher to publish my mystery series. But does that mean I will stop being an indie author with my other books? Absolutely not!
You are no longer at the mercy of the publishing houses. The sting of the rejection letter no longer signifies. Why? You ask? ‘Print on demand’ and INDEPENDENT PUBLISHING PLATFORMS! It works! I am selling 20-30 books and/or scripts a month. Doesn’t sound like much, you might think. But it’s a heck of lot more than I was selling when I sat at my computer reading another rejection letter with tears drying on my face!
Quentin Bell: ‘A book is so much a part of oneself that in delivering it to the public one feels as if one were pushing one’s own child out into the traffic.
Robert Louis Stevenson: ‘If you are going to make a book end badly, it must end badly from the beginning.’
James Baldwin: ‘Beyond talent lie all the usual words: discipline, love, luck–but, most of all, endurance.’
Ernest Hemingway: ‘The most essential gift for a good writer is a built-in, shock-proof shit detector.’
John Le Carre: ‘The cat sat on the mat is not a story. The cat sat on the other cat’s mat is a story.’
‘As a writer, I marinate, speculate and hibernate. ‘ Trisha Sugarek
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