Crap someone should have told you writers by now
Sometimes, you don’t need preamble. Sometimes, you need someone to give it to you straight.
Hi. *waves*
This is for every writer on this whacked out planet.
• Your early work will suck.
• Your later work, in its early drafts, will still suck.
• No one cares about your writing unless you’re at (or near) the top of the New York Times bestseller list.
• Seriously. You could win the Pulitzer in literature and your friends would be, like, “Yeah, she’s writing or something boring like that. What a waste of time.”
• You cannot please everyone.
• YOU CANNOT PLEASE EVERYONE.
• So don’t try.
• Write for yourself. Failing that, write for one person.
• Listening to ten other people means ten extra people in your head when you write.
• That will fuck you up faster than a Sarah Palin gaffe.
• Example: “Polls are for strippers and cross-country skiers,“ Palin said at a Tea Party rally in Iowa, on Sept. 3, 2011.
• Polls are actually for finding out what people think about stuff. Which is your job as a writer.
• Because truly great novels, odes, short stories and even songs show what is happening around them.
• It’s worth repeating: Before you’re great, you will suck.
• You will latch onto words or phrases and repeat them throughout your work.
• The words and phrases you repeat will change over time.
• The habit of repeating shit will not.
• You may never feel good about what you write.
• Write anyway.
• It’s better to lack confidence. Shitty writers always think they’re great.
• Never let anyone tell you to stop doing what you love.
• EVER.
• The only “equipment” you need is a writing implement.
• Pen is nice because you can write on your body if you can’t find paper.
• Pencil is nice because it works in any weather and never runs out of ink.
• You will never have time to write.
• If you’re a writer, that won’t stop you.
• We all crave validation.
• You may or may not get it.
• Write anyway.
• You need an editor.
• If you are an editor, you definitely need an editor.
• At the beginning, being edited hurts more than childbirth.
• No really. I’ve had two kids.
• After a couple months, being edited will feel more like a mosquito bite.
• Not in the sense that you forget how painful it was. (That only applies to childbirth.)
• But you will feel less protective of your words after you build a relationship with your editor and realize he has your best interests in mind.
• You’ll find out who your real friends are as soon as you publish your first book.
• Don’t work with a coach, editor, publisher or anyone else without a contract.
• Read the fucking contract and understand it before you sign it.
• You’re worth more than you may ever realize.
• Your story could save someone else.
• It happens all the time.
• That’s what they mean when they say, “You could change the world with your writing.”
• You will not get rich writing.
• Write anyway.
• Because what you may lack in cash flow you will more than make up for in enrichment and mojo.
• Writing helps us make sense of our world.
• If we didn’t do it, we’d probably completely lose it.
• Most of us are on the edge already.
• We have to be in order to do a job that doesn’t pay, won’t make us famous and, oh yeah, is among the most difficult.
***
Thank you, Rebecca T. Dickson. I so needed that today.
Love this post, it’s good to be reminded of this sometimes 🙂
Hanging ten on the edge. 🙂
Still working at it.
Can I get a 24×36 inch poster of this please?
Awesome! This is the best I’ve read in a long time. Thank you for making my day 😉
Great post, all writers should read this :).
Love this! Perfect timing. I needed these reminders this morning. Printing out post & taping it to writing space wall to read often. Thanks!
I agree with Kathy…I need this in poster size, above my desk. The one where I write stuff that sucks, but not as much as it used to. Because of my editor 🙂
Oh god, how I hate being edited! I know it’s important, but it’s just nerve wracking and painful and about as much fun as a root canal.
About the contract comment. The editor I have been communicating with does not have contracts and she is working 16 hr. days either writing or editing. She had put me ahead in her queue, but when I told her my intentions and how many pages my ms was, she said “Keep working. I will take you out of the queue for now.” In other words, I trust her.
Do I still need a contract even though she has worked with hundreds of writers without one?
Ha ha, love the pic at the end. I’m a scientist and writer, so I’m doomed. Unless…
Right, I’m off to make my sex tape.
LOVE this! My fave is: • It’s better to lack confidence. Shitty writers always think they’re great.
hahahahahaha I’m starting to really think this. thanks for the fab post!
It’s 100% true. No joke.
Great piece – straight to the point and I’ll even forgive the Sarah Palin gibe because you’ve made a gaffe with your ‘gaff’ 😉
An unintentional act or remark causing embarrassment to its originator; a blunder: “an unforgivable social gaffe.”
Do you see why editors need editing the most?
Love this so much!
I’m coming back to ask, why this?
> “You’ll find out who your real friends are as soon as you publish your first book”
Needed this lately so Thank You, except I’m having a hosted post edited for the first time and now I’ve literally got butterflies! If this hurts more than childbirth I’m going to die! At least I’m prepared 🙂
Love the advice and Sarah Palin too, btw.
I write for me. It’s a calling and I made a promise to myself that if I didn’t feel at least 70%-80% good about it, I’d fix it until I did. I hear that voice all the time. I don’t read my reviews. I don’t just rely on the publisher to get the word out. There are better writers than me. I write anyway so THANK YOU FOR THIS POST!
wow. This is DEAD on. Thank you. I shared everywhere.
I definitely needed this today 🙂 Thanks for this! I’m sharing EVERYWHERE.
Great list. Although, “You’ll find out who your real friends are as soon as you publish your first book,” I found out who they were while writing my first book!
You. Friggin’. Rock…
Thank you for this article. I am sometimes on the edge of quitting when no one gives importance to your words. You’re right. Write for yourself.
I need to read this every time I sit down to write, and I’ll add, “No matter what the voices in my head are telling me, WRITE ANYWAY!” 😉
Best writing article I’ve ever read. I’m currently working on my first novel, and although I’ve received good comments so far I haven’t been able to finish it. I needed this inspiration. “You will never have time to write.” SOOOO true!
Thanks!
This is all brilliant advice! I wrote my first draft of my first novel and a writer friend, who *cough* knows what she’s talking about, ripped me a (literary) new one. I’m eternally grateful to her. It wasn’t quite as difficult as shoving two babies out of my hooha, but pretty close. I like to think of myself as a confident writer, but not an arrogant one, so yeah, I’m gonna get the beta-read right out of me! Kim x
What does that mean, You will never have time to write? I’ve always had time to write, since college. And also time to not write, to take time off. If you’re a born writer, how can you not have time?
There are lots of reasons why born writers don’t have time to write. Often it relates to life’s stages and having to look after someone else.
Oops, pressed send too soon — I was going to add, if you do have time to write, dig in and enjoy it to the max, and be as prolific and as experimental (and as dogged) as you dare, because creating a solid base of work while you can is a very helpful prop for those later days when something else might compete for your time. My advice to anyone who has time to write is to really enjoy it.
I am a proof reader, have just started out…..I have 1(one) writer so far how do I get more? where do I go? any help would be appreciated. Thanks
This could have been a great article but for the unnecessary vulgarity and jab at Sarah Palin. I almost bought a poster of this too. Thanks for saving me some cash.
Thanks for not buying it.
You really hit the old proverbial nail on the head with that list Rebecca! Thank you! I’ll be back.
I like what you wrote. But only three books since 1985? Ok, maybe I’m a bad writer but I’ve published 5 since May, have two more to release before October (to be fair someone these were written between 2-6 years ago), have 33 concepts and partial books and I’m currently working on a series of thirteen in the same genre. Now the first comment will be my sentences are too long… good point! But this is not a novel.
I look forward to following your suggestions on this site. We can all improve regardless of age, experience or previous accomplishments. But I’m just a newbie.
When I fell in love with writing – in 1985 – I was 12. Since choosing to write and not make excuses – circa 2012 – I’ve published three books. Working on number four now. Quality. Never quantity. xo
If I find this inspiring rather than disheartening, and realise its all true…. then that makes me a writer yes? 🙂
It is nice to know there are fellow souls out there. Great post and I have kept your name for writing help. Thanks.
Shitty writers DO all think they’re great! And the best ones are always like, gawd, I’m not so sure about my last poem…
This is the second more than gentle shove I’ve received from you today. Perfect and thank you.
This is wonderful. Have you considered a wall-sized poster to sell?
Thanks for sharing.
There’s a link at the bottom of the post to buy them. I just enlarged it.
It’s all true, especially the last 5 lines. Thank you!
NOT PULLING LANGUAGE PUNCHES, WARNING
his was fucking awesome stuff Rebecca! I loved it and have found so much on my path to back your points. If I had found this 1.5 yrs ago i would have made my path much easier!
Hi Rebecca
Bullet form? Perfect design to shoot straight and from the hip. I couldn’t disagree with any of your points…not one. I’m newly published as of December 2013, but I’ve been writing for more than 20 years. Until I was published I wrote for fun, to amuse myself because it is fun, and because there was this little guy in my head that insisted I write ‘this crap’ down. So I really had no choice. So to find out that I wouldn’t be able to support myself as a fiction writer came as no surprise to me. In retirement now I have the freedom to write whenever the little guy gets his whip out, but I did look into internet work. Yes, a person can write copy via the internet, and make a living at that from the comfort of your own home, but that would be work. I don’t want my writing to be like work. Work comes when or if I am accepted for publication. Then the edits are work, but other than that I don’t have deadlines yet. I’m not famous like Steven King, but then, I don’t need that fame because I still write for me first. IF I decide to share the work, then the reader can take a look and say Yay or Nay. The trick is to use the Nay’s to improve your fun.
So much truth! An author friend shared this, and she’s always sending us great information to help our little group improve our writing. What a home run on this post.
Thanks!
I really needed to read this. Exactly what I am feeling. Glad to know it’s not just me. Good article.
I’m printing this off and framing it. It will hang in every room of my house~