The Hardest Part of Being A Writer

Personally, I don't think the hardest part of being a writer is dealing with the occasional bouts of writers block. Or trying to wrangle time away from the rest of life in order to get the writing done. It’s not about tackling insecurity. The hardest part isn’t even the inevitable amount of rejections that occur—not that they feel good, mind you.

For me, I’ve found the hardest part is finding the energy & optimism to continue to be my own support system. Each of the obstacles I’ve listed can be tough, but in their own way they’re manageable. Writing gets a lot harder when several of them (and plenty of ones I didn’t list) dump on you all at once.

You can & should have others (friends, family, betas, etc) who believe in your ability & are there to give you pep talks when you need them. But at the end of the day, YOU have to be the one who believes in you the most. Especially when it comes to hearing the good stuff, you’ll never trust anyone as much as you trust yourself.

YOU have to be your biggest cheerleader. YOU have to be able to pick yourself up when disappointments come along & remind yourself that you have what it takes to keep going. YOU need to be the one to balance equal parts of realism and optimism in order to make it through to the finish line. YOU have to be the one to assure yourself there really IS a finish line, even when things have gotten so crazy you can’t see it anymore.

Unfortunately, it can be a tiring job to be your own cheerleader. Especially since no one will abuse you quite like you abuse yourself. You can’t hide your deepest thoughts, rants, fears, bitching, internal crying -- that no one else, not even your mom, is privy to -- from yourself. It’s exhausting to pick yourself back up time and time again, and find ways to get yourself past those hurdles.

Sometimes, the cheerleader in you questions whether or not she/he wants to be a cheerleader anymore. This is where I think the difference is made between those who eventually go on to be successful (in anything, not just writing) and those who settle for comfortably normal.

Remember to be kind to your inner cheerleader sometimes. Don’t forget to let her/him enjoy some of the better parts of the process. Ease up  and don’t abuse them too much or they may leave. Trust me, I’ve been there with my inner cheerleader. Thankfully she bitched me out and set the record straight. ;o)


Query Status Update:
Though I have fallen behind the NaNoQuerMo pace quite a bit, I haven’t given up. Although several of the agents I originally planned to target aren’t helping by closing themselves down to queries until January, thankyouverymuch.

Queries Sent: 7
Rejections: 2
Still Pending: 5
Partials Requested: 0
Partials Rejected: 0
Fulls Requested: 0
Fulls Rejected: 0

Long way to go still. Long way to go.