Recently I linked to a lovely bitter and twisted little list of 9 unsavoury character traits of real authors as laid out over at Feckless Goblin. And I cannot help but confess to owning at least a few of the qualities on this list. It is a tough business folks. Tough businesses produce some tough characteristics. Suffice to say I am not going to tell you which of the nine I possess but I am the bipolar, magpie, jealous type - take from that what you will. This list made me laugh, but in a slightly uncomfortable, is-anybody-looking, kind of way. How much should we reveal about how we really feel? Next week I am giving a talk which includes some tips on how to stay sane. And as I pondered this topic I considered the question - is it better to vent and let all those frustrations and gripes out or keep them inside behind a lovely veneer of yes, I'm fine about that one millionth rejection, no it doesn't bother me at all, I live for the no's, they let me know I'm alive, its all okay on the inside of my head. Then I began to wonder - should sanity actually be the goal? As I thought on this I came across a new juicy link over at Nicola Morgan's blog where she warns about the highly competitive and potentially humiliating nature of our profession. Sure, fore-warned is fore-armed, but I'm actually coming to the realisation that sanity may be a little overrated, and may not help you survive as a writer. So now I'm rewriting this part of my talk as Managing Your Insanity because it helps to be a little crazy in this business...
Update: here however is a very positive and uplifting blog post by Rachelle Gardner which reminds us that even if, yes, you will probably survive better as a writer if you are a bit of a fruit loop, good things do happen and you should always have hope and hold on to your dreams...
1 comment:
Someone told me today that it's easier to think outside of the box if you box (brain) is a bit cracked.
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