You know how under every kid’s bed is a monster?
Well, I’ll let you in on a little secret. In every writer’s head exists a monster, too…
Read Chelsea’s essay below the picture…
Whether you’re a full-time writer, a hobby writer, or a writer with another full-time job, you have to admit that being a writer is a pretty good life. On the whole, we’re pretty lucky to do what we love. But…
I bet you’ve heard (real or imagined) that self-promotion is creepy, despicable and well, just plain wrong. Don’t do it. How dare you even consider it?! Don’t!
And two stamps of the left foot for extra measure.
My answer to such assertions against self-promotion is, quite simply, capital B – friggn’ – S! And I’ll tell you why…
Note: This is a guest post by Marcy McKay. She’s the Amazon best-selling author of ‘Pennies from Burger Heaven.’ Follow her on Facebook.
Let’s face it, questions constantly haunt us about our writing: Is my work any good? – Will others like it? – Will I find a literary agent or editor?
There are so many outcomes beyond our control, but all that stinkin’-thinkin’ leads to…
Note: This is a guest post by Warren Adler. Warren is the author of The War of the Roses, his masterpiece fictionalization of a macabre divorce turned into the Golden Globe and BAFTA nominated dark comedy hit starring Michael Douglas, Kathleen Turner and Danny DeVito. Be sure to check out Warren’s latest thriller Treadmill.
For the aspiring writer in the middle to late 20th century the goal, however fantastical and mythical, was to write The Great American Novel.
What this meant was that we passionately burned to be recognized as a kind of literary phenomenon. We wanted our books to be bestsellers, have our novels adapted into films, and were somewhat schooled in the reality of the marketplace and the odds against realizing such a dream…
Every writer wants the process of writing to be easy. We want our writing to pour forth as if from an inexhaustible reservoir. We all want our first and only drafts to become bestsellers. And we want our readers to not only get us, but to never get enough of us. When we show up for readings, Madison Square Garden wouldn’t be big enough to hold all of our loyal fans.
In The Color of Money, the only movie for which Paul Newman ever won a Best Actor Oscar, there’s a scene near the end where he’s playing against the once infamous real-life pool player Steve “The Miz” Mizerack, and after Steve loses to Paul, Steve says, “I didn’t deserve that.”
And without the slightest hesitation, Paul’s character, Fast Eddie Felson, replies, “Yes, you did.”
The reason Fast Eddie said, “Yes, you did.” is the same reason too many writers the world over self-destruct, fail and quit writing.
One of the most frequent questions I receive is: How can I write and hold down a day job at the same time?
There’s a common belief (and a few myths that support it) that you can only do one or the other. But that’s not true.
The odds are if you write in public you want people to read your work. Seems like a reasonable assumption. I mean, if we don’t care if anyone’s reading our work, then we should stick to personal journals that we keep hidden under our pillows.
You can hide your work if you want to, and if you hide your work you’ll never let yourself down. But if you’re interested in getting your work noticed don’t fall for the myths presented in this post.