The Dark Side of the Book Deal

Smasher_Sloan · Jun 20, 2007

swenk said:

In Exile said:

From a lifetime of writing, most of it as a complete independent who writes books, who started out with zero connections, and who has published in a variety of genres, one of the biggest obstacles I ever had to overcome was the notion that writing is such a precious and mysterious activity that it could not be done unless I was a sleep-deprived, coffee driven, anxiety-ridden, weird, hard-drinking, hermit-like wretch horrible to everyone and entirely self-obsessed.

.......

You already own the language as much as anyone else, and when you sit before a blank page, or a blank screen, you will never be more powerful.
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Great quotes--the second one should be made into a sticker and sent to every author with the signed book contract. "Please remove backing and affix to laptop screen."

Over many years of working with authors, I know this for sure: The degree of angst and panic is directly related to the degree of natural talent. The craziness increases with ability. A gifted musician hears every note that isn't perfectly in tune; same with a gifted writer. A less talented artist misses a lot of that. Ignorance is bliss, and I mean that in a good way.

But I'm still amazed when successful, popular, gifted writers completely fall apart when making the transition from newspapers or magazines to books. It's still just words. You string 'em together, you tell a story. It's longer and bigger, but it's still just words telling a story. Get over the drama, Hemingway is dead, you aren't. Just write the damn thing.
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That's like saying soloing with a world class symphony is no different than playing the violin in your basement -- it's all just notes, after all.

Writing a book is a completely different process, and completely alien to most newspaper people. In a lot of cases, people are writing books in their "spare" time, which adds to the stress. I would suspect that's the experience of a lot of the people who visit here.

write then drink · Jun 20, 2007

hey Jere ...

kiss my ass, you UPI hack ...

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The Dark Side of the Book Deal

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