The longer I write, the longer I watch my husband’s creative work (he develops web applications), the more I see that to be productive you have to pay attention to what makes you happy.
You don’t hear about this from writer’s organizations. You hear about how this or that contract term is evil and must be abolished, you hear about how you have to have an agent or you have to do book tours or you have to go to conventions and pass out your bookmarks. You don’t hear about something without which none of the rest matters.
If you aren’t happy, you don’t produce. No, really. I can testify to this from personal experience. Writers aren’t machines who can churn out product endlessly without having what they need to fuel the process. Writing a novel isn’t a matter of typing two to four hundred pages. If that were the case, anybody with enough stamina to keep typing could write a satisfactory novel.
I think that rather than focusing on whether you’re doing all the things your writer’s organization/other Publishing Authority tells you to do, a far more crucial career consideration is the ignored metric: does it make you happy?
Listen, if there was a formula authors could follow to be #1 on the NYT list, everybody would be there. If having this stricken from your contract, that agent, a publisher who does hardcover or sends you on a book tour was the answer, why isn’t it working for everybody who dutifully does what they’re told?
Because there is no formula, except the one Joseph Campbell proposed; follow your bliss. Happiness is your guide. Does it make you happy? Do it. Does it make you miserable? Don’t do it.
This is not guaranteed to put you on the NYT list, or make your books succeed critically, or make you the darling of your writer’s org, but following happiness is a very simple metric anybody can apply, and it ensures that no matter what level of success you’re at, you’re enjoying it.
I’ve been photographing my apple tree as it buds and blossoms because it makes me happy. I cut and arranged lilacs the other day because that made me happy. I have watched hours of Battlestar Galactica episodes and chewed through Harry Dresden books because it made me happy, and all of this is producing good work I’m enjoying doing.
When was the last time you did something that made you happy? Even five minutes’ worth? Forget the Ultimate Expert’s Guaranteed Guide to Career Success, and follow your bliss. Nobody can guarantee your success, but you can guarantee your own happiness. And happy people produce. Producing something to sell means you have a career to worry about.
Very well said!!! This is SUCH a tough business and it’s human nature to (unfortunately) compare yourself to others–at least for like 98% of us.
I sometimes feel like I walk a fine line between being social–because really, who else can I talk to about my characters like they’re real people and not get locked up–and keeping my sanity. For me, that means limiting the amount of information that comes my way. Sometimes I think the more information you have, the crazier you can make yourself (in this business). Less is definitely more. But at the same time….solitary can get lonely.
You know I got a rejection yesterday and while it was kind of unexpected, I emailed my agent and said, “I really like this story so I think I’m going to go ahead and finish it.”
Whether I send it to an e-publisher or it goes to a print publisher is beside the point. It’s a novella, I should be able to knock it out in a month or so and most importantly of all, I’m writing something I like!!
Exactly. If you can’t write what you like, might as well do technical writing. You can’t make everybody happy but you can sure make yourself miserable trying.
More information does equal more insanity. I try to limit contact to socializing, like Twitter, and ignore everything else.
Hey, the technical writing will suffer, too, if you don’t enjoy it at some level. Just sayin’. But yes, bliss rules!
Very well said. 🙂
MJ, I’m the one who cracked and wrote printer error documentation in iambic pentameter, so you don’t have to tell me. *g*
It’s true of everything you do, but especially those of us who freelance/work on contract, we don’t have to take every project that comes our way. Much better to take the projects we love, that excite us, that we’re going to enjoy doing.
Happy beats the alternative. By a long shot.
Charli, you’re brilliant! This entire post is brilliant. 🙂
It’s also exactly what I needed to hear. I’ve been struggling with my writing for the past 18 months. I’ve been through two international moves, started two new jobs and moved into two new houses, and for a while, it was easy enough to say that life interfered with my work. But now that things have settled down and I stil can’t produce, I realized there’s a deeper problem.
To fix it, I tried all the prescribed advice: make lists of goals, “just do it”, push for that next big publishing contract. And through it all, I was miserable. I still wanted to write, but writing what I’d written before was no longer working. Neither was trying to write a novel to pitch to a NY agent (which, frankly, has never been at the top of my goal list, even when I was consistently producing).
Finally, after many frustrating failed attempts, I realized that the kind of writing I was doing wasn’t making me happy. I was trying to stay on a given path because I thought I should, when in fact I wanted to write something completely different, something off the wall. Maybe something short instead of a novel. I’m slowly coming to terms with the fact that maybe it’s okay to be different. Maybe I can spend the next 10 years writing short stories, and that would be okay, too, as long as it makes me happy.
What a fabulous revelation. I feel like a weight’s been lifted, and I can breathe (and write) again.
Lacey
Lacey, I’m so glad it helped! I’ve had a year of massive struggling to write for various reasons and it took time to work through the layers. It’s not easy to come to terms with things like “this isn’t working for me/this isn’t what I want”, especially when it means change, because change is stressful and when you’re already stressed, it’s so much harder to face.
Go do what makes you happy! Write short stories. I’ll read ’em. I’ve always loved shorts.
AMEN! This is one of the best posts I’ve read in a long time. I loved this…I wandered here late, but it makes a great Mother’s Day present, so thank you 🙂
Thanks, Michele, and happy Mother’s Day to you, too!
Perfect advice and something I think all writers need to remind themselves of from time to time. It’s not easy to be creative when what you’re working on doesn’t excite or interest you.
I think if you’re true to yourself, you’ll be a lot happier. Now the trick is to follow that advice.
NJ, the pursuit of happiness might be more simple than easy. *g* I do have tons of projects on the back burner that excite me, enough to keep me busy for a long time. It’s good to have multiple happy-making options.