Chin up!

Do you ever lose hope of success, critical or financial? Do you ever feel a twinge of envy or jealousy for what other writers have achieved. Let’s be brutally honest.

by Dietrich

The desire to come up with stories, going scene to scene, coming up with characters and situations, and all that goes with it — that’s where I want to keep my focus. Losing hope or feeling envious or jealous sure aren’t going to help.

It’s always gratifying and encouraging to read a good review or a comment online. What’s not to love about that, right? It’s always nice to hear that somebody gets and likes what we’ve come up with. But, of course there’s a flip side to that: the not-so-good reviews and offhand comments, or how about the one-star ratings? And that’s really the acid-test, how to deal with all the negative stuff. I tell myself there isn’t an author out there who hasn’t seen a negative review or response, meaning that I’m in pretty good company. I try to resist the temptation of reading those comments — and that’s not always easy to do. For those wanting to avoid that kind of temptation, it might be better to start on something easier, like avoiding cake or chocolate. I tell myself if there’s a good review, my publisher or publicist will likely let me know, so there’s no sense in searching for them.

I remember an author whose work I admire started a post a couple of years ago about a one-star rating he got, and pretty soon other writers started doing it too, making a joke out of it anytime they got one. “Oh, look I got another one.” They didn’t make nasty comments, they just had fun with it, and that was probably a healthy way to deal with it.

I try not to get sidetracked by negative feelings or by the distraction of emails and the internet just before I sit down to write. I want to sit at my desk with a head full of enthusiasm and let fresh ideas loose as I get back into the story I’m working on.

I learned something else about dealing with situations that don’t go to plan. A writer friend was working on a next-in-the series and heard from his agent that the publisher who had printed the first four of the series wasn’t going to publish the next one. It got him down for a while, but like a true champ, he kept on and he finished the final draft, figuring sooner or later the book and the series would find a new home. He called me a couple of weeks ago and told me he just landed a film deal based on the series, and he was busy writing the pilot for it as we spoke. Shortly after that, he landed a book deal on the new one he had finished. It shows that sometimes it just takes a little perseverance, along with the right attitude.