I wrote today's Twitter (1/2 pt. = commits to journey. Things seem to get a bit better. They're about to get way worse = Crisis 3/4 pt.) based on something I heard Andre Agassi say in an interview about his memoir. I missed the part about why he despises tennis from the start but at around the Middle of his journey to wholeness, he quits drugs and alcohol and commits to tennis for the very first time.
Agassi's Halfway turning point does what all good Halfway turning points do: signals a move from ambivalence to commitment. At that point, as Agassi quickly finds out, rather than get better, the Halfway point signals that things are about to get way worse.
The writer / protagonist (today's on-going plot consultation illustrates how closely the two are tied) leaves the ordinary world when she signs up for a series of on-going plot consultations with the goal of finishing a writing project she has started and stopped for years.
She slips into the writers life with ease. Fortunate to have a lifestyle that supports writing and reading and fully sinking into the writers life, she sets up a dream writing schedule. Every morning, write with coffee. Write and walk. Write and errands. Write and eat. Write and read. Write and sleep. Sounds heavenly. Only distractions are those she allows.
Yesterday she hits the wall. Comes up with two new writing projects in quick succession. Retires to bed sick. Rejects vision of literary genius.
She hits the exact same point in her writer's journey that the protagonist is about to encounter on the hero's journey. Up until now, the writer and the protagonist have gone through the motions. Now, with full commitment, the writer and protagonist step forward thinking that by making the commitment, the hard work is behind them. They step forward into thin air without a clue that the worst is yet to come...
Crank up the energy. Next is the Crisis...
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By: Martha Alderson, M.A.,
on 8/18/2009
Blog: Plot Whisperer for Writers and Readers (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: the writing life, literary agents, dealing with rejection, submission process for writers, indie versus traditional publishing, the writers journey, Add a tag
This blog is intended as a place of safety and support for writers on their individual writer's journey. A place where I offer up tips about plot and the Universal story form for novelists, screenwriters, memoirists, and those who dabble in creative non-fiction. Never have I expressed much about my personal writing life yet now I feel drawn to share the following excerpt from a letter of condolence and support to a fellow writer. That it helped renew her enthusiasm and passion for writing and submitting her work to agents perhaps, if you too are faltering, my words might serve as a lift:
I wish you could share your journey to getting your novel published in an article for Writers Digest or a similar writer's magazine. Yes, the trauma you have suffered in your life makes you more sensitive. Yet you speak for all writers when you voice your despair over the submission process.
The pain you feel from rejection letters is universal. Truly. Gifted writers, gifted creators of all kinds stop writing every minute because of rejection.
We writers share our innermost soul on the page and to have our writing rejected means we're being rejected -- that which is most personal and meaningful to us. Sure, we should buck up, grow a thicker skin, not take it personally, but lots of those things we "should" do and feel are never as simple as they sound.
People like you who are brave enough to write about the pain are the reason for the phenomenal success of the Indie industry. Perhaps that's what indie publishing really is -- a gift of separation from the powers-that-be in NYC. The release from having to be judged by the arbitrary board of gate-keepers to that which we long -- a readership to enjoy our words and stories.
I rarely submit... anymore. Early on I did. Too early. I cringe when I think of some of the writing I sent out before I knew better.
The novel I recently completed is my best by far. I wrote Angle of Reflection for an agent who had rejected an earlier novel and asked me to send him any future work, saying he loved my "voice" / writing style. I have not heard back from that query. The novel I completed before this one, I queried two agents: the one who rejected it. The other immediately asked for the entire manuscript. After 6 months, I have yet to hear yea or nay.
I have not given up. Quite to the contrary. I am simply writing and waiting. Today, publishing, as with almost every institution steeped in tradition, experiences upheaval. Things shift, making room for the new to emerge.
In the meantime, I continue to help writers achieve their publishing dreams (I include a list of current and former clients I am proud to announce have books being released this fall).
I've found peace through this approach and trust that when the time and I am right, my fiction will be published. In my acceptance, I make my way toward my dreams by studying the craft and continuing to write. I have given myself until I am 99 years old. If I've not had my fiction published -- yes, I could go the Indie route, but hold out for NY -- then I'll despair. In the meantime, I write...
I am proud of you for keeping to the pursuit of your dreams. For continuing to find resources to help heal you and strengthen you. For voicing your pain. For fighting back. For protecting yourself from those out to suck dry the creative and brilliant and lovingly magical soul of yours.
I believe in you. I almost hate to say that because I feel that by encouraging you I send you back out into that which can destroy you, and just as easily lift you to heights you never imagined. You're strong enough to survive this. In surviving, you triumph! In your triumph, we all triumph!!
My only advice is to keep writing. We get better every time we show up for our writing. Write through your pain. Write down your pain. Write, write, write. Ignore anyone who doubts you. Concentrate on yourself, your writing, and the divine energy of creation. You channel that power every time you show up for your writing. You perform a sacred rite through your writing. Make the writing itself enough... for now... write....
WRITERS TO WATCH (books with a Fall 2009 release date by authors who have credited my plot support as help in their success publishing):
Daily Coyote (softcover release) by Shreve Stockton (Simon Schuster)
http://www.dailycoyote.net/
Sounds Like Crazy by Shana Mahaffey (Putnam)
http://www.wendytokunaga.com/pages/
The Lodge by David Brandin (iU -- Editor's Choice Award)
(If I neglected to mention your book, please let me know and I'll add you to the list.)
2 Comments on On a Personal Note, last added: 8/19/2009
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Thanks so much for sharing this with us. We all needed to hear it.
And if you will, please mention my novel, "The House," due for release in fall 2009.
Again, I appreciate you, and your words of inspiration in both your Tweets and plotwhisperer.com
anjuelle floyd
http://anjuellefloyd.com
Martha, thanks so much for the shout-out and also for sharing your experience and feelings about the joys and frustrations of the writing life and the publishing industry. Much appreciated.