Writerly angst

[jhetley]

Just reading Peg Kerr's lament about uncertainty in the writing life. And Rolanni's grumbles over going back to rework a "done" chapter that sent the story line off in the wrong direction. And here I am with the female lead of my current work telling lies to me. I _thought_ she was a Vietnamese refugee with a father and brother in "reeducation" camps, that's what she told another character -- turns out she's born and raised in the US and just makes up romantic background stories when people ask too many personal questions. She's still a cast-iron bitch, though.

I thought this stuff was supposed to get easier with practice. I've seen three or four good reviews for WINTER OAK, including one that's _really_ important (Publisher's Weekly), and I'm still angsting over whether that damned book actually works and whether it will sell enough copies to keep Ace forking over cash for more-of-the-same-but-different. That's for words I wrote 2-3 years ago.

And if I put as much time and effort into architecture as I do into writing, we'd sure eat steak for dinner more often. With the exception of a handful of "names" in each genre, writing fiction doesn't pay minimum wage.

Maybe writing should be filed under "curse."

Comments

[kinzel.livejournal.com]

Sigh. Imagine what it was like for us to have some *old* stuff published -- say ten years old or older -- that had been rejected over and over ... like The Tomorrow Log. Then it hit the Locus Best Seller list... and there was Master Walk... which has gotten good reviews and was over a decade old when published.

I think Rolanni is right, though -- the more your write the more you try to do and the more you become your own toughest critic.

Keep on typing....