Writing is not easy and there are days when it feels like everyone else in the writing community has exceeded their daily word count targets, uploaded some amazing social media posts, has managed to put a wash on, sorted out their kids for school / college and has come up with three new book ideas…all before 9.37am.
In contrast you have not even thought about writing, let alone doing some, because you have been arguing with your teenage children about the state of the bathroom, the coffee machine is on the blink, you’re nursing an eight-day cold and you still are mentally chewing over that painful agent rejection you got six months ago.
It’s on days like these when we need to read about other not so perfect writing lives.
For me, reading about other writers not so perfect writing lives helps alleviate those crap feelings which usually start with ‘I must be the only writer who..’ When a book of mine didn’t sell on submission I felt rubbish. I had assumed it would sell and I would have the perfect / dream writing story to tell. What a shock I got! If you think agent rejections are bad, I tell you having a book tank whilst on submission is horrid. Once I had picked myself up off the floor, it was other writers sharing their not so perfect submission experiences that came to my rescue. I began hunting out other writers who had been through something similar. Doing this led me to discover that books not selling on submission does happen, quite a lot actually, so I wasn’t the only writer going through this.
In the past reading about not so perfect writing moments has distracted me from comparing myself to other writers. I forget the ‘I could never write as something as good as her,’ and find myself saying things like ‘I love how her house sounds as chaotic mine on a morning.’
Writing can be so stressful. It feels like a lottery whether I wake up feeling positive about my WIP. When my writing mood is bleak the world around me feels the same. Once I was glum and tired with writing. Everyone on Twitter was announcing hot new book deals and I couldn’t write more than 27 words. My teenage children were doing my head in, my kitchen ceiling was leaking and the cat had brought in a dead rat. After sorting out the dead rat, I browsed some writer blogs and came across a writer who was talking about how rewriting her difficult WIP was making her emotional, she was halfway through a packet of biscuits, her house was a mess and she was behind with her laundry. I commented on her blog and we became friends.
A few years ago I tweeted about sitting behind the shed in the garden, with a glass of wine and a box of tissues as my WIP sounded terrible and I’d received 3 rejections in the space of two hours. I shared this not so perfect writing life moment and my Twitter feed lit up with other writers out there juggling dodgy WIPs and rejections.
The moral of this tale – when you have had more rejection emails than hot dinners and are now toasting marshmallows on a bonfire (made from wood and your half finished draft novel) – share this not so perfect writing life moment! Believe me there are other draft novel bonfires being lit all over the world and YOU ARE NOT ALONE ❤️
Very few writers get the perfect writing life. Everyone struggles and writing brings every writer to their knees with frustration at some point.
Let’s use our not so perfect writing life moments to help others.
Have a great day!
Lucy Mitchell Author Blog 