It all Sucks!

Harlequin said:

Redefine success, I suppose.

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Great point, but let me throw this perspective out there:

I finished my first draft (of my first novel) last November, and at the time, I would have assessed it as a C+, *maybe* even a B-. Yes I was an amateur, but I put a year's worth of blood sweat and tears into it, learned a ton about the craft from myriad sources (including this site!) and honestly, it was fairly decent read.

Now it's seven months later. I have completed three major revisions after getting feedback from beta's, a professional DE, learning even more about the craft, and having a lot of light bulb moments about things like POV and head-hopping and show vs. tell, etc. You would think after these dramatic improvements, the manuscript should certainly be a solid A by now, right? But realistically, I would wager that any fair assessment by anyone qualified to do such a critique would probably be a B- ... at best. So the reality is, that first draft from November was not the C+/B- I thought it was.

So, while I can sit here today and redefine success as having achieved a higher aptitude in my writing, which I think I've done, doing so also reframes my previous "success" as being really quite exaggerated.

blacbird said:

Probably. But what do you do to beat the bolded above?

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Like this:

I have not failed. I have simply not yet succeeded.

blacbird said:

Probably. But what do you do to beat the bolded above? Other than "have some success." It reminds me of something I actually saw a person say in a TV interview some years ago {paraphrased) that poor people would be happier if they just had more money. Failure would be easier to deal with if you just had more success.

caw

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As others have said, you redefine success.

Focus on the process of writing; on producing work that achieves what you had hoped to achieve. On taking risks and pulling them off. Or even on writing for an hour a day, or producing two pages of new work each day. Set your own parameters.

So long as writers focus on publishing deals and sales as their definition of success they are bound to be disappointed.

yeah, I mean... I guess for me, because communication isn't a strong suit, communicating through something written is a success. Maybe that seems a miniscule goal but it will vary for every person I'm sure. I can't control whether I'm published or not, only how effectively I make myself understood (to my own critique group, if no one else) and have no issue self pubbing for the same reason, if it came to that.

blacbird said:

Probably. But what do you do to beat the bolded above? Other than "have some success." It reminds me of something I actually saw a person say in a TV interview some years ago {paraphrased) that poor people would be happier if they just had more money. Failure would be easier to deal with if you just had more success.

caw

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I understand you completely. Constant disappointment and no success sucks. I am no stranger to it myself. To deal with it, I meditate daily. Suffering is part of life. If you succeed, have fame, a huge pool and a yacht, you will get sick and die. Everything changes and passes. The only peace is interior acceptance of the nature of this world. Don't work for the fruits. Work because you like the work.
May all beings be happy.

Edwardian said:

Don't work for the fruits. Work because you like the work.

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For the purpose of clarity, I like the writing part of writing. I even like the editing part of writing (probably because I do a lot of editing, in a context other than creative writing).

It's the what-the-hell-to-do-with-it-afterwards part that just hasn't worked. Over a very very long time. Leading to:

yet adv.. Eternity. Forever. See also never.

-- Blacbird's Unabridged Dictionary, 2018 ed.

caw