mmerriam: (Type)
[personal profile] mmerriam


Type, Type, Type, Type

Hateful Voice: Why do you even bother?

Writer Guy: Excuse me?

Hateful Voice: Why do you even bother? Do you know what the chances are that you will actually sell that novel?

Writer Guy: Yes. Yes I do.

Hateful Voice: Nobody sells first novels.

Writer Guy: That's not entirely true...

Hateful Voice: Fine, practically nobody sells first novels.

Writer Guy: Yes, and?

Hateful Voice: So why bother?

Writer Guy: Because if I don't finish the first one, I'll never get to the second one.

Hateful Voice: As if anyone will want to buy that one either.

Writer Guy: Nope, probably not. But they might. And if not the second one, maybe the third or fourth one.

Hateful Voice: You don't really believe that do you? Do you really think those busy editors want to waste their valuable time with your book?

Writer Guy: Probably not. But they might.

Hateful Voice: Even if you did sell a novel or two, most novelists vanish from the rack after that, never to be heard from again.

Writer Guy: The more the other guys disappear from the rack, the more room there is for me.

Type, Type, Type, Type

Hateful Voice: You're still writing.

Writer Guy: Yes.

Hateful Voice: You're wasting your time. You should do something productive.

Writer Guy: I am doing something productive. I'm writing.

Hateful Voice: I mean really productive, not make believe. You should get a real job.

Writer Guy: I do have a job. A couple of them, in fact. I'm a homemaker and I'm a writer.

Hateful Voice: No, I mean something where you actually have an income.

Writer Guy: I do have an income.

Hateful Voice: A real income. In a real job.

Writer Guy: Slinging motors down at the foundry or some such?

Hateful Voice: Yes.

Writer Guy: Been there done that.

Hateful Voice: It would help your household. You're going to ruin your life pretending you're something you're not. You're wife's going to get sick and tired of your lazy ass.

Writer Guy: First off, I'm the primary housekeeper. Second, I do have a steady income. Third, my marriage would be in far more danger if I started doing something I hated. Then I'd just be depressed and moody all the time.

Hateful Voice: You're never going to make any serious money doing this.

Writer Guy: I know. Your point?

Type, Type, Type, Type

Hateful Voice: You're just going to fail.

Writer Guy: It is a possibility.

Hateful Voice: Aren't you afraid of failure?

Writer Guy: Why? Should I be?

Hateful Voice: Nobody likes a failure.

Writer Guy: What in our history makes you think that would even matter to me? If someone is going to sneer at me because I failed at something, I don't really need them in my life.

Type, Type, Type, Type

Hateful Voice: It might be years before you start to make regular sales. It might be years before you sell a novel.

Writer Guy: True.

Hateful Voice: As many as five, maybe more.

Writer Guy: Five years is about what it takes most people to graduate from college. It took me longer than that to become a professional bass player, as opposed to just a competent garage band bassist. That's just part of the never ending learning process.

Hateful Voice: Ah yes, professional bassist. There's something you failed at.

Writer Guy: Actually, I never failed at it. The band just broke-up.

Hateful Voice: But you never went back to it.

Writer Guy: That's because I was stupid and listened to you when you started babbling on about doing something useful with my life, like getting a real job in the real world.

Type, Type, Type, Type

Hateful Voice: Don't you get tired of all the rejection.

Writer Guy: I went to High School. I'm use to rejection.

Hateful Voice: Do you read the stories being published in the magazines and webzines?

Writer Guy: Yes.

Hateful Voice: Do you read the blogs of other writers?

Writer Guy: Yes.

Hateful Voice: Then what makes you think you can compete for print space with them? Why should anyone want one of your stories when they can buy something from a talented writer?

Writer Guy: That was a bit of a nasty thing to say...

Hateful Voice: Oh, come on Michael, you and I both know the truth. You're nowhere near as talented as they are. You're nowhere near as smart or as capable as they are. You'll never be good enough.

LONG SILENCE

Writer Guy: Yeah, you're probably right.

Type, Type, Type, Type

Hateful Voice: So why are you still writing!

Writer Guy: Because it doesn't matter if I'm as talented or as smart as my peers. All that matters is the story. And all I need to do is get a well written story to the right editor, at the right time.

Type, Type, Type, Type

Hateful Voice: You're mad.

Writer Guy: It's taken you forty years to figure this out?

Type, Type, Type, Type




And I have this conversation every f#*%@ing day.

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