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...
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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