[HN Gopher] Living the writing life means living with failure
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       Living the writing life means living with failure
        
       Author : bookofjoe
       Score  : 19 points
       Date   : 2023-03-11 15:41 UTC (7 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.washingtonpost.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.washingtonpost.com)
        
       | bookofjoe wrote:
       | https://archive.ph/kbs7Z
        
       | diamondap wrote:
       | I read an interview a few years ago where a reporter asked a
       | writer what was the difference between authors who made it and
       | authors who didn't. The writer said that the ones who made it
       | stuck with it. They just kept on writing despite years and years
       | without strong sales or recognition.
       | 
       | If you're going to stick with it, there has to be something there
       | beyond a desire for sales or widespread praise.
       | 
       | Success, too, has its downsides. My wife is a painter--and if you
       | think it's hard to make a living at writing, try painting. She
       | met another painter who makes a huge income, but that painter
       | complained, "My first sales were paintings of boats. And for
       | years now, everyone comes to me wanting a boat. I'm bored to
       | death of them. I want to paint other subjects, but this is what
       | pays, so I keep doing it, as frustrating as it is."
       | 
       | Look into fiction writing, and you'll find few writers whose
       | publishers will let them write outside their genres. Those
       | writers may want to explore, but the publishers know what has
       | sold in the past, and they want more of that. The only major
       | author I can think of who sells big in multiple genres in Stephen
       | King.
       | 
       | Self-publishing has been a godsend for those who like to explore.
       | You can write anything you want and push it out at will. You
       | might not make money at it, but you can do it.
       | 
       | At bottom, you have to choose your definition of success and
       | failure. If you define success as being accepted by editors and
       | critics, receiving praise and prizes from the publishing
       | community and hitting the bestseller lists, all of that is beyond
       | your control. It's like fishing for likes on Instagram.
       | 
       | If you define success as getting better at your craft, writing
       | something that you and the few people you really respect like,
       | then you can find fulfillment. I often think of gardeners who
       | pour hours into their roses, not to get rich or to receive
       | recognition, but just because it pleases them and fulfills a deep
       | inner appreciation.
        
       | xwdv wrote:
       | If I had the money, I would love to build a public library of
       | nothing but unpublished works, printed and bound in books, where
       | every book you pull from a shelf is something that was never
       | widely circulated, from authors you never heard of. Could even
       | print whole blogs and comment histories of writers from around
       | the internet.
        
         | bookofjoe wrote:
         | https://neglectedbooks.com/
        
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       (page generated 2023-03-11 23:00 UTC)