Still Reading: The Help by, Kathryn Stockett
On the Farm: Balance boards made from 2x4's and logs
Thinking About: Why I never got around to trimming goat hooves this weekend
I've been out of the blogosphere for awhile, haven't logged onto Facebook in months and my Twitter account has been sorely neglected. I thought maybe I'd take a look at my old links and blogroll and see who is still around and who has vanished.
There are a handful of bloggers that I used to read (all Kidlit) and I've noticed they haven't posted in maybe six months? a year? And it got me wondering whether these people have dropped out of the blog world so they can really focus on their writing (as I like to do in my cyclical way) or if they've stopped writing all together?
And that thought brought me back round to the question everyone likes to ask: would you keep writing even if you knew you'd never be published? Now obviously, that's a tricky set-up because never is a very very long time. But say for instance you've been trying to land an agent for a decade and there just aren't any agents left. Do you quit trying to get an agent or do you just quit?
The reality is, only a handful of YA writers make it. Some make it huge on their first try, some have lengthy, steady careers, some get one book off and never see another in print, some stay solidly mid list and others hit the New York Time's Best Seller's list every go.
What if someone told you you'd need to put in another six years until agents A-Z would have a chance to slim down their slush piles and get to your manuscript? Do you pin all your hopes on one novel or do you keep writing?
The question that plagues me in all of this, is when you set aside every what if and each possible scenario, DO YOU KEEP WRITING?
Authors love to say that writing is in their blood and yet, as I scan my very old blogroll, I'm seeing that there really are a handful of people out there, a certain percentage, that have just given up.
Does that mean that writing is not in their blood? No. It seems to me that it means that the business of writing is not in their blood and that maybe they're a little more realistic than the rest of us.
And so that pesky question again, in expanded form: Why do you write? Where does this need come from? Can you satisfy it some other way? Would you keep writing just for yourself and your honey? Is getting published everything? Would you keep writing no matter what?
Here's a little inspiration: The Glee cast singing Keep Holding On
You ask the hard questions!
I have to think of it all like a process. At some point I may have to give it up, but everyday there are the chores and it is all part of the greater good. I can't imagine that it's so much different than living on the farm. I don't think the publishing can be the perspective, the work has to be the perspective. If that makes any sense at all!
I wrote long before it ever occurred to me that someone might ever publish it. So I would still write, absolutely no doubt.
But I might not revise :)
Yes, thank you both! I can't help but write. Mostly I've been a poet and in college it was really stressed that if you were writing you should be submitting. I never had any expectations that I'd ever publish anything . . . I was just following orders.
But you two incredibly dedicated writerly-types still have me wondering about the people that give up. Go find those people and send them here so I can ask them some questions, please!
I'll be sure to get on that!
I think I would continue to write if there was no chance of ever being published. It gives me great joy.
And angst.
I've done it since I was a kid, so I really do believe I was born with this talent. I've wasted a lot of years when I was younger--time that should have been spent honing that talent, but I am making up for it now.
Hi, new to your blog but this post intrigued me. For me, it is the possibility of getting published that is so exciting. That, along with me getting better ALL THE TIME, leads me to honestly think that if you never give up, you will be published. The process is what weeds people out. So, I will keep writing, and keep getting better, and one day, someone will notice.
Thanks for making me think about it though!
Nearly finished The Help. Wow, can that woman nail character voice or what??
Why do I write? I write because I love the whole experience. It makes me feel alive and challenged and makes me happier than any "thing" I know.
Even though I can't break out of query-hell, I know I'll never stop writing. I like it too much.
I think that people who stop writing just don't get anything out of it anymore. There's nothing wrong with that - sometimes dreams, goals, and life circumstances change.
I've always done some form of writing, whether it was in a journal, or writing poetry or whatever, but it wasn't until my kids started going to school that the ideas started flowing and I thought maybe I could go somewhere with it. If I'm any good and get a break somewhere down the line, I'll get published. I don't stress about it though. May as well enjoy the journey!
Thanks for stopping by Tracy and Kelly! And welcome.
You've both got a great perspective on the journey!