On Success

“There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.”  

–Ernest Hemingway

I want to be a writer. Actually, I am a writer. I have been writing for a very long time—stretching way back to my high school years in the early 1980s. I got serious about it in the mid-1990s, publishing a few shorts here and there. Then I let it slide until a little over 2 years ago. Now, I write pretty much every day for at least an hour (constraints with my job), and I feel like I am producing quality work consistently.

I believe this to be successful, perhaps in an organic way—considering that I am more concerned with quality than quantity, and don’t stress too much about having new material out there every other week. Would I like to make a living at writing? Certainly. But I think legacy is more important, and I would rather have excellence in the periphery, than slush in the mainstream—especially when I am long gone and unable to defend myself.

The reason I bring this up is that I have been reading several books on e-publishing—the majority consensus being the exact opposite: quantity over quality. Write fast, publish more, market more, and make money. This mindset crosses over into another pet peeve of mine: reality TV culture and social website inundation—people shouting in the dark, begging for attention, pushing buttons… all in the name of fame.

But that’s another can of Alpo. I want to talk about success.

Being successful doesn’t necessarily mean being famous and making lots of money. Being successful, to me, means doing what you love, enjoying it, and learning and growing from that experience. I’m already doing that. The problem is: I want more time for it—and the only way to accomplish this is to develop my passion into a career with compensation, or at least substantial supplemental income. I believe this is where the confusion over the meaning of success lies.

I write slowly. I am a perfectionist and sometimes agonize over the simplest sentence. I finished a draft of a novel over a year ago and I am still in revisions (an hour a day, remember). I was recently told by a professional author that the two sides of my brain were fighting, that my inner-critic was scrutinizing every detail, self-sabotaging myself, and that the first draft was the important part, not to sweat the rewrites. I find this appalling. Publishing a first draft with a light going over is kind of like leaving the house naked, all imperfections for the world to see. No. I disagree... and not respectfully. Funny enough, the same author (in his book on e-publishing successfully), mentioned more than once that there is no correct writing method. Everyone is different. Do what works. Develop your routine. Trust the process, etc.

WTF?

So, now I skip the parts in these books about the writing process. The feedback I get from those I trust is good. I know how to write. I’m just slow. I’m less apt at marketing (loathe it, actually)—so, I pick and choose the sales tips from these books that I feel are relevant without being too intrusive to people who respect me and/or my work. I hope that the combination of the two will one day lead to my having more time for what I love.

Will that make me successful? 

No. It will make me more successful.

TWS

PS: If you’re curious about the novel mentioned above, the first two chapters are up on Wattpad for free. Please vote and/or comment which will result in more people seeing it. Click here.