(What's that? You haven't been able to get Paranormalcy because your local bookstore was sold out? Hmmm. It's a good thing it's going into a second printing already then!)
(Yeah, I think that's pretty freaking awesome.)
Ahem. None of that was the good news. The good news is this: Maybe deep down, or not even very deep down, you've always suspected that once you get an agent and are published everything gets easier. The writing flows. Ideas are non-stop. You never doubt yourself or your writing, or get nervous, or worry about failing, or have bizarre dreams about things going very, very wrong and everything crashing down around you.
Well, I'm here to tell you that is EXACTLY RIGHT. Because once you get published, you never find yourself thinking, "OH MY GOSH IF I DON'T GET CHOCOLATE RIGHT NOW I AM GOING TO DIE WHY DO I DO THIS TO MYSELF." You never wait around desperately for emails from your agent on whether or not she likes your most recent project while you pace the floor, checking email obsessively. You never sit down to write and just. can't. type. anything. You never, ever write something and then think, "Hmm. This really isn't very good, is it?" You never send your friends desperate emails that say things along the lines of, "Holy crap, I have completely forgotten how to write."
Nope. It is all rainbows and sunshine and lightning fast fingers.
But, if, maybe, perhaps, for some people, the writing isn't all rainbows and sunshine and lightning fast fingers, I think maybe that would be nice to know. Because writing is always hard. It's always work. There's always something easier to do--but there are few more rewarding things to do. Even when your friends have to tell you things like, "Take deep breaths, Kiersten. Deep breaths." And you listen to them, and it helps. (But you wonder why on earth your friends keep calling you Kiersten. It's a weird nickname for them to use. My friends call me Kiersten, but that's because it's my name. You should really ask your friends to give you a better nickname. Like Skippy. Or Frank.)
We don't write because it's easy. It's never easy, no matter what stage you are in. We write because we love to. We love books. We love stories. We love creating.
So even if it causes us to gain five stress pounds because OH MY GOSH I NEED CHOCOLATE WHY IS MY BRAIN BROKEN TODAY/WHY DO I HAVE TO WAIT/WHY ISN'T THIS WORKING/WHY DO I HAVE TO REWRITE THIS ENTIRE YETI-LEPRECHAUN ROMANCE, it's worth it. Who wants life to be easy anyway?
Easy is boring.
33 comments:
Totally agree with this post and I think it's great that authors point it out to aspiring authors. You're right, easy is boring. You have to work at it in order to appreciate the rewards :)
Amen, sista! Preach it :-)
Thanks for the smile!
SO what I needed to hear today as I try to convince myself to work on my revise and resubmit and hope that this time maybe I will think of the right words, and put them in the right order and actually tell a good story! Thank you for sharing!
"we don't write because it's easy"
OMG that's so true! My muse has recently developed a drastic case of ADD and things aren't flowing, they're dripping (as in the tap is broken dripping).
Ah well. a bit of chocolate, some bubble bath (yes I'm weird that way) and life will still not be easy but it'll flow better.
La la la la la I don't hear that last part because it IS all puppies and rainbows and lightning-fast...
Aw, crap.
"Easy is boring." Great quote!!
When I was teaching and my students would start talking about how hard something is I'd tell them that "it's okay if it's hard. If I just gave you easy things to do you'd never learn anything."
Happy writing!!
Writing is rarely easy - it's a labor of love. Congrats on your second print. (Already? HOLY COW! You go girl!!!) I'm reading PARANORMALCY now, btw. Funny book. You should get your hands on a copy. *hugs*
Thanks, Kiersten, for sharing and reminding us that while writing may be what we love to do, sometimes it is what we dread the most...
I just found your blog and I LOVE it! Thank you for reminding us aspiring writers that writing is hard work for EVERYONE! Even once you've made it :-)
PS. Paranormalcy isn't out yet where I live, but I am waiting anxiously for it!
Yay for second printings!!!!! Can't say I'm surprised. :)
And yeah, I always try to tell myself that it's good writing is hard, because that helps separate out all those people who half-heartedly say "I could write a book." The competition is fierce enough as it is!
Just what I needed to hear on a day where I'm going through a very tough critique on my novel! :) I follow a bunch of other authors, both on blogs and FB, and it's reassuring to know that the struggles I go through, NYT bestsellers go through too. (They just have the contract signed--I don't!)
Congratulations on the 2nd printing! You must be bouncing off the walls!
Preach it, sister!
Absolutely--easy is boring. But once you get past the initial prejudices and awkwardness, your yeti-leprechaun romance will be filled with rainbows, sunshine, and lightning-fast fingers. Oh, my.
Sincerely,
Frank
WOOT for second printing! Great post as always Kiersten. Can I call you Skippy? ;)
Congrats on the second printing - woohoo!!
And ha ha, this post was awesome. Also, SO true. :)
Wait, what? You actually have to keep writing after you get an agent? I'm not going to have time for that crap once I buy my yacht! ;)
Also, second printing? You rule.
Especially since you have a heroine named Evie. LOL, I used to hate you for that, (You know, the kind of impartial hate you can only ascribe to jealousy over a stranger's success) but I got over it pretty quickly!
Congrats on the second printing.
If I can misquote Cher: If a great book came in a bottle, everyone would have one!
You're funny. And smart too.
haha yeti leprechaun romance. you should make a short story for us when those two go out to buy some chocolate ;)
Paranormalcy was wonderful!
Yep! That sums it up! :)
Great post!
Easy is boring and congrats on the second printing! That is awesome but not at all surprising!
Yeti-leprachaun romance? You know, I was pretty cool with the whole Evie-Lend thing, but I'm not so sure about this new one, haha. :)
Yep. Good news. Life is exciting.
YEP! Easy IS boring!!!
Second printing already? Holy shit, congrats!
"Skippy Writes"?
Hmm, might have worked...
Second printing - woo-hoo!
And AMEN to easy being boring. Great post.
That was exactly what I needed to hear before NaNoWriMo! Can't wait for November now :)
I'm glad to know it's not hard just for me. And congrats on your book going into a second printing. That's so awesome.
Ahhhhhh, chocolate in, stress out.
Wait - 16 days after release and you're already in a second printing... surely that must be some YA/debut/fabulous person record, no? Congratulations!!
You're such an inspiration. Huge congrats on a second printing after just two weeks!
Happy weekend!
I always stress that writing is work, and I don't have any fantasies about it ever being easy. Really, if it was, writing 5,000 words in a day wouldn't feel so great. Like you said, easy is boring.
AND HOLY CRAP, PARANORMALCY IS IN ITS SECOND PRINTING! When I read that, I had to tell it to anyone else in the room. :D My family is used to mega-happy comments about PARA. :D
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