This blog is late.
Yup, late.
Last week I checked out. Took time off work. Left behind the chores and the weedy garden to travel away with cherished family to do… absolutely nothing… especially writing.
I’ve had some hard knocks recently; got a couple tough query rejections, received difficult to hear–yet needed–feedback from trusted critique partners that required a major rewrite (feedback delivered in a respectful and kind manner) and then I got decimated by a toxic beta-reader. I’m still not sure of their motives. This writer/editor/reader may know their craft and have valid and helpful critiques… but the manner with which they delivered their opinion shattered my confidence and stole my writing joy. Then… the imposter-syndrome-struggle-bus parked outside my front door. I’m still pondering the reflection.
So, I decided to take a vacation, from life and my writing.
That’s right. I stopped writing. I gave myself permission to move away from my words and instead blessed myself with the time to think, to ponder, and consider my next steps.
Part way through the week, my family stayed up to watch the recently released movie, Dungeons and Dragons and when the main character said:
“We must never stop failing, because the minute we do, we’ve failed.“
I got goosebumps.
I couldn’t sleep that night. This concept kept ram-rodding my brain.
But I had a plan for the week – so I forged ahead.
BE A GOOD LITERARY CITIZEN
I dedicated my vacation time to being a good literary citizen. Due to a hurricane month of June with graduations, birthday parties, ball team fund raising, work responsibilities, and carving out time to write while agonizing over my recently received feedback, I asked my critique group if we could postpone our meeting into my vacation week. My amazing critique partners agreed and so I therefore spent the first few days of my vacation diving into their pages.
One of my most valuable lessons has been how much I can learn from my fellow authors. It’s been a joy to discover that in searching for repetition, weak adverbs, and unnatural dialogue in other people’s writing, I’m better at finding these things in my own work. Also, by reading and supporting other writers, they in return share their comments, thought provoking suggestions and cheer me on as we all get better together.
KINDNESS IS A SUPERPOWER
During a recent zoom meeting, a newly discovered author friend shared a link to her publication on Amazon Kindle Plus. Her publisher was advertising her novel and she graciously shared the link to a great deal. In my experience, this writer has only ever been welcoming and kind to others, so it was a pleasure to support her. I’m proud of myself for learning a new app and I was surprised to find that I enjoy reading on my phone.
I’m also thrilled to share that I absolutely LOVED her novel. Her eloquent writing, full bodied characters, and relatable relationship depictions left me uneasy, speculating and when I wasn’t reading, I was wondering about the characters and how things might turn out for them. I highly recommend her novel! You can find it HERE. Give it a try and support a fellow Canadian author.
BE KIND
Finally, I took the time to beta-read another author’s completed draft. What a privilege and a pleasure. It takes courage to share our work. We all need to remember that.
I can’t wait for this novel to find it’s publishing home. I look forward to someday bragging that I got to read an early copy. I did my best to highlight the passages, twists, jokes, and characters I loved and to encourage and compliment the many layers of complexity, humour, and brilliance while also brainstorming possibilities for improvement. In the end, that’s our job. Our goal is, until the very last moment before the ink hits the pages and they are bound together, to offer suggestions for how we might improve our works in progress.
This is what we authors need to remember. While we are in the drafting stage, we are looking for ways sharpen, tighten, and heighten our work. It’s my job as a beta-reader to help other writers. To lift them up, and even though I’m trying to help, not to tear them down.
What every author secretly wants to hear is, “Wow, this is so good! I can’t possibly think of another thing to improve this. It is sheer brilliance.” But this won’t make our writing better.
We need to absorb the compliments, like sponge cake under a strawberry sauce. We need to turn pink and soggy with it. To allow the good comments about all the wonderful bits in our writing to soak into us, to fill every crevice and hole so when another critique partner or beta-reader suggests how our work can be improved, we’re happy to dive in and make those changes.
As a writer… there will be rejection and tough days. Not every story is meant for every reader, agent, publisher, or beta-reader. And… it shouldn’t be. There will days we will want to give up. But we can’t give up.
Remember that, “We must never stop failing, because the minute we do, we’ve failed.”
Once we stop working to get better, once we stop being open to change, once we stop querying, and once we stop looking for our ‘yes’… then we will never be published.
Don’t stop failing.
I’m back from vacation.
Time to write again. To find my next failure, until it’s a ‘YES’.
