Sunday, February 26, 2023

A Week in Writing #445 - Trying Not to Feel Like a Failure

Hope everyone is staying safe, and, of course, writing.

When you've been writing about your writing for over 8 years and having been writing for much longer than that, it sometimes might be hard to shake the feeling that you've failed, especially when others may feel like you have. It's not something that I really try to think about, though it's hard not to contemplate such things.

Let's start with this little blog. I began writing this becauese I didn't have anyone in my life that I could really talk to about what I was doing and what I was going through. Readership most weeks is in the single digits and I'm frankly okay with that. This is where I can put down what I'm doing, and I do try every day and every week to write. Some weeks are better than others and some are worse. Being a part-time writer, with a house and a family, there are many things that can get in the way of reaching your goals. Everyday, it seems, there are obstacles to writing; I don't think I'm alone in that.

The goal is always to make a living writing and short of that get some sort of recognition for what you're doing. Part of that is to write everyday and to do whatever you can to get your work out there.

While I have yet to sell a book, does that mean that I should stop trying? I would say no. I try to do the work, like querying agents. I may be cautious about it but that is from experience. If you send out the same query letter to 40 agents and either don't hear back or are rejected, you've shot through 40 agents and perhaps learned nothing from the process. That's why I only send out one a week. But the process is forcing me to do more, like write that synopsis, which I don't think many writers enjoy writing.

And I keep trying to work on new books. Again, it's a time thing but I am working when there are gaps that allow me to do it. I think I've done good work on Skylar this past couple of days. Some of that work has been done while waiting for the next thing to happen, whether it was the podcast on Friday or before dental appointments on Saturday morning.

Writing reviews for Trophy Unlocked is something I enjoy doing, even though I feel like I have a backlog of reviews that will never see the light of day. I am only one of three writers and I'm willing to wait my chance but I don't think I should quit writing them. I don't want to think that not getting my reviews published is a failure but more waiting for the right opportunity.

That said, I did have one go up this week on the site, my review of  The Banshees of Inisherin was the Saturday morning review.

And Powers Squared could easily be seen as a failure. We're putting out our 16th issue and it is not a runaway best seller by any stretch. I do what I can, or at least what I think I can, with social media and getting press but I feel like I'm the only one doing anything, even though I'm not the only one working on the book. And I know pretty much about what I'm doing so it is a recipe for failure. Should I quit doing it? Perhaps financially I should. There are other things I could do with the time and money I'm spending on it. I always hoped this would be something we would do as a family and I've tried hard not to leave anyone behind. And I still hope that we can make something out of it.

But I also enjoy the work and enjoy trying to think of new stories we can tell. You've got to keep trying.

There are a lot of obstacles to finding success but I don't think you can consider failure unless you give up.

Well, that about does it for me. Keep writing, and I'll see you back here next week.

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