I just found out that two of my novels are in for the third round of
last years Gollancz submissions, and the thought filled me with both hope, and
dread…
Hope because if I make it much further, there’s a distinct possibility
that Gollancz might want one of my books, Dread, because if they say no at this
point, it’s been a whole year I’ve been on tenterhooks, just waiting for the
note to drop through the door that tells me I didn’t make it...
There’s a lot of people out there who want to be writers, and to be
honest, you can see why, all you do is turn up at your desk, welcome the muse
to sit beside you, type for a few hour, and then enjoy the rest of your day
while the awards flow in one side and the money the other.
But you know something, I don’t believe that people think that’s what
it is anymore, I don’t believe that at all, that was the popular theory ten,
twenty years ago, and now…?
Now I think everyone’s getting the idea of just how hard it is to write
things and make them good. Anyone can
write and get it published, there’s a million websites out there and all you
need is a word processor and an idea that you’re willing to write up.
This is both a good thing and a bad thing…
In the past, and to some extent today, the publishers and agents were
the ones that held the keys to the doors of being a writer, a “Real” writer,
one who made money from their creation, but no longer. These days anyone can publish a book, but to
be recognised as a writer needs something else, and I see this in many places
where I find other writers. It’s not
enough that we’ve written a million words, ten novels, a few hundred articles,
two or three RPG’s, that’s not enough to qualify us as a writer, what we want
is the respect of our peers.
Yeah, you’re not a writer till someone else calls you one…
Oh and did I mention pay?
Yeah, you’re not a writer till you get paid for it either…
And shelf space?
Yeah, you’re not a writer till you’re on the shelves at WH Smiths and
Waterstones…
Is this all sounding familiar to the other writers out there?
I write every day, other people call me a writer, I get paid for what I
write, and I’m on the shelves at Smiths and Waterstones, but somewhere in my
heart is the eternal doubt that I’m just pretending to be a writer, that
everything I write is no good and someday, someone will come along and tell me
to grow up and do something important with my life…
And every day I ignore that voice in my head and keep writing…
Every day…
And if you're a writer, so must you…
Writing is like any other craft, you don’t learn it overnight, and
those who think they’ve got it in one with no redraft, no edit, and no doubt…
Good luck to them, they’ve either already spend the ten thousand hours
learning the craft, or they’re being wildly optimistic…
We all get the doubt, doesn’t matter how well or much we’ve written,
doesn’t matter what we’ve achieved, where we’re published, or what we’re paid
(although I suspect those who’ve earned millions might disagree that notion),
we still doubt that anything we do is any good.
But it is…
And I thought about doing something for the Kickstarter Make/100
campaign on how to write a million words in a year, but I fear that most people
wouldn’t be interested, because the core tenet of the whole project is just
keep writing…
And I’m not sure if the world is ready to be told that…
Thoughts?