Sweat Equity

I've been contemplating a writer's career and I thought I'd share a few things I believe all serious writers share.

1. We share the concern that what we write is meaningful.

2. We sweat learning our craft. Rewriting until our fingers cramp and our eyes are blurry.

3. We shed tears making each sentence sparkle.

4. We bang our heads against hard surfaces when the prose is wrong but we can't put our finger on why.

5. We hold are breath counting the days till we get a response from an editor, all the while accepting that it will most likely be another rejection. Worse yet, a Form Rejection.

6. We walk around talking to characters in our heads.

7. We crawl out of bed in the dark coldness of night because a character is speaking and we have to get it down before it's gone.

8. We soar through the clouds when we finish a piece. Only to weep a week later as we read the dreck we once thought was perfect prose.

9. We shed tears of sorrow or laugh with joy when our characters, die, get the bad guy, fall in love, or learn to tie their shoes.

10. At the end of each day, we shut off the computer with a bit of sadness and anticipation for the work that lays ahead.

That list could go on and on, but we do these things repeatedly, because it's what it takes to succeed. The countless rewrites are what drives us to madness. However, it's that madness that we crave and draws us back time and again.

So tell me, are the others out there that are somewhat jealous of the posers? No, I'm not talking about the novice or the unpublished. I'm referring to the 'Celebrity' who because of their fame, never jump through the hoops we regular Joes err...writers do. They don't sweat a spliced sentence or a fragmented thought. "Oh dear, I've stubbed my toe, what pain and suffering. Oh look it's bleeding. I have an idea... I'll write a book," they say, and boom they're published.

I stumbled across a blogger who has something to say about all this and has started BACA...Bloggers Against Celebrity Authors.

Here's the link to motherreader the founder of BACA...enjoy

http://www.motherreader.com/2007/08/baca-off-again.html


IMHO, our sweat equity will pay off with much better dividends. There's still something to say about the people who have made it the old fashioned way...they've earned it.