Today, just for the hell of it, I googled the exact phrase "give up on writing." And guess what? On nearly every site generated, the phrase apperaed in the negative. As in "Don't give up on writing," or "I was afraid I might give up on writing, but...." or "He stubbornly refused to give up on writing." So apparently, writing is a good, even if no one reads the fruit of your labors, and giving up writing is a very bad thing that no one ever does. I found lots of blogs encouraging aspiring writers to just keep at it and somehow they will prevail. I love writing. At least I think I do. Some things I write all the time like e-mails and blogs and "to do" lists. I've written two books, but at the moment I have no less than three first chapters to three different books, all of which are languishing on the hard drive. I'm just not interested in writing those any more. There are plenty of other things I could be doing instead of writing. Volunteering at the Phoenix Employment Ministries. Going to an agility training class with Bailey the Border Collie. Helping my daughter assemble the intricate "Visible Woman" model I got her for Christmas. Sitting by the pool with my husband, drinking wine and talking politics. And the world would do just fine without my books. Lately I've come to believe that the internet is full of writers in search of an ever dwindling supply of readers. Or at least readers willing to shell out money to buy their books. With the advent of Print On Demand Publishing, anybody with a computer and a few hundred dollars to spare can sell their own book online. I've got a book, you've got a book, the nice lady in Poughkeepsie has a book. Are they worth reading? Who knows? So we all engage in futile attempts to get The Reader's attention. We offer prizes on our websites. We send out press releases and court reviews and visit independent book stores. We send out post cards and we attend conferences and we set up book signings. We join online forums and promote our events. We spend an awful lot of time and an awful lot of money and at the end of the fiscal year, our publishers send us royalty checks for amounts that aren't enough to buy a double latte at Starbuck's. I know a lot of writers who love the whole marketing thing and do pretty well at it. I'm not one of them. I grew up in the Midwest where nobody likes a show off and going around telling people what a great book you've written is bragging, plain and simple. And then expecting people to pay for it? Get over yourself! There's a song by The Who called "Success Story," which has a wonderful line that goes "take two hundred and seventy six....you know, this used to be fun." And that's how I'm feeling about writing these days. It used to be fun and I want it to be that way again. I want to enjoy getting out, meeting readers and hanging with other writers. It shouldn't feel like an obligation or a burden or a waste of time. I'm hoping I'll change my attitude once Tree Huggers comes out this spring. In the meantime, please don't send me any sappy e-mails of encouragement or inspirational quotes. I'll only bite your head off. |