{"id":5943,"date":"2019-10-05T22:06:33","date_gmt":"2019-10-05T22:06:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/on-line-interactivity.com\/blog\/2019\/10\/05\/how-the-writer-survives-2\/"},"modified":"2019-10-05T22:06:33","modified_gmt":"2019-10-05T22:06:33","slug":"how-the-writer-survives-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/on-line-interactivity.com\/blog\/how-the-writer-survives-2\/","title":{"rendered":"How The Writer Survives"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;\" class=\"sharethis-inline-share-buttons\" ><\/div><p><body>&#13;<\/p>\n<div align=\"center\">&#13;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/on-line-interactivity.com\">&#13;<br \/>\n  <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" border=\"0\" src=\"https:\/\/on-line-interactivity.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/abbtop.jpg\" width=\"800\" height=\"120\"\/><\/a><br \/><a 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class=\"style7\">&#13;<br \/>\n                <font color=\"#FB7014\" size=\"4\" face=\"Tahoma\">How the Writer Survives<\/font><\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\n            <\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td align=\"left\" height=\"19\">\n<div align=\"justify\"><span class=\"style2\">by: &#13;<br \/>\n                <font size=\"3\" face=\"Times New Roman\" color=\"#FB7014\">Seth Mullins<\/font><\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\n            <\/tr>\n<tr>\n<div id=\"article\">\n<td align=\"left\" height=\"12\"><span class=\"style2\">So it\u0092s your dream to write novels? Be a freelance writer and make a living off of your articles? Or maybe you nurture an ambition to write and sell enough short fiction to put bread on the table, like those writers of the golden age of the pulps?<\/p>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\nWell, those are all noble dreams to have. I\u0092m smitten by the writer\u0092s glamour myself. Also I\u0092m grateful for the others who were, those authors whom I love to read and return to time and again. I\u0092m grateful that they possessed not only their artistic vision, but also the sheer stubbornness and will to persevere and see their dreams become reality.<\/p>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\nSo we\u0092ve settled on the fact that we want to be writers, and that no other dream will do. Now let\u0092s take a look at what this is likely to mean in terms of the sacrifices we\u0092ll have to make along the way.<\/p>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\n1.  Misunderstanding.<\/p>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\nMake no doubts about it \u0096 even those closest to us may not understand or even sympathize with our dream. Young authors still in school or living at home should prepare themselves for the advice of well-meaning but frightened parents; which typically will be encouragement in ANOTHER direction. With all that time spent on the computer, you could build a career as a typist. How about data entry? Web design? They have a lot of great courses at the college for that.<\/p>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\nAdult writers can oftentimes expect a similar reaction from their significant others; though in this case, the motivation might be someone different. Why don\u0092t you pursue something that there\u0092s a FUTURE in?<\/p>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\nPeople who give this sort of advice are doubtlessly well-steeped in all the lore of the suffering artist. Parents don\u0092t want to see their children go through it; husbands and wives aren\u0092t all that eager to see their spouses get caught up in that trap either.<\/p>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\nBut the real question here is this: are YOU ready to believe in yourself enough to persevere even in the face of this negative (though well-meant, perhaps) feedback?<\/p>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\n2.  A social life? What\u0092s that?<\/p>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\nTo finish a novel could easily take up a thousand hours or more of your time. That means almost three hours a day if you want to get it done in a year. And this is a modest estimate. Now maybe you\u0092re willing to give up T.V. time, leisure reading, evenings out with your sweetheart, etc. You want to be a novelist that badly. But wait! The trials don\u0092t stop there.<\/p>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\nYour friends and family will want explanations. WHY can\u0092t you go over to Lucky\u0092s and hang out tonight? Why do you never pick up the phone at night (or in the morning or whenever you write)? <\/p>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\nNow it\u0092s one thing to have college papers to write, or mid-terms to study for, or overtime hours at work. Those are all socially acceptable obligations. But tell your friends that you\u0092re staying in every evening to write and probably the best reaction you can hope for is a blank stare.<\/p>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\nAre you ready to say: \u0093Too bad if they can\u0092t understand\u0094?<\/p>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\n3.  Rejection upon rejection.<\/p>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\nLet\u0092s say we pass the first two hurdles. We don\u0092t listen to people\u0092s attempts (however well-intentioned) to dissuade us, and we plug away at our stories even though it means we can\u0092t enjoy the leisure and down time of \u0093normal\u0094 people. We put those thousand-odd hours into our work, and when it\u0092s all done we\u0092re proud of it. We write query letters, mail submissions, and sit back and dream of that fat advance, the book signing tour and the movie offers.<\/p>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\nThen the unthinkable happens. We get one return letter after another, and all of them are variations of this: \u0093Thank you for sending us [our work]. It was indeed interesting, but not quite what we\u0092re looking for at this time.\u0094<\/p>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\nThis happens to everyone. It has happened to me numerous times, and if it never happens to you then you will be entered into the history books of publishing. You may reach the point where a PERSONAL rejection letter instead of a pre-printed rejection feels like an accomplishment.<\/p>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\nRemember the dream. Remember the passion that drove you to devote all those hours to writing in the first place, at the expense of your social life and leisure. Then send your work out again, because you didn\u0092t pass the first two tests for nothing. When and if you get feedback, see if there\u0092s anything constructive within it and learn for next time. You\u0092ll be another rung up the ladder to success. <\/p>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\nWe writers survive and find our way because we weren\u0092t meant to BE anything else.<\/p>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\nSeth Mullins is the author of \u0093Song of an Untamed Land\u0094, a novel of speculative fantasy in lawless frontier territory. Visit Seth at http:\/\/authorsden.com\/sethtmullins<\/p>\n<p><b>This article is free for republishing<\/b><\/p>\n<p><\/span><\/td>\n<\/div>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td class=\"article_bio\">Seth Mullins is the author of &#8220;Song of an Untamed Land&#8221;, a novel of speculative fantasy in lawless frontier territory. 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