After Monday’s post on the sobering odds involved in the publishing process, I think we can all agree that being a writer is not easy. Particularly when the publishing industry is going through such a tumultuous time.
It’s not easy to pour out 250 pages, it’s not easy finding an agent, it’s not easy finding a publisher, it’s not easy for your book to catch on, and it’s certainly not easy to become the next Stephenie Meyer.
But what’s the hardest part about being a writer?
Professor Tarr says
I think a larger problem in actuality is loving what you wrote and then on the next day loving it again. Hard to excise those lovely thoughts, don’t you know.
Just_Me says
In the order that they tend to hit me:
– chapter 3
– the last 3 chapters
– editing
– staying on task
– explaining what you’re writing to all the non-writer/non-reader people you know
– not beating people over the head when they say they never read
– finding a “perfect fit” agent who loves your writing and understands where you want to go with your career
Stephanie says
I actually would rather be the next Meg Cabot!
The hardest part…hmmm… I’d say the hardest part for me is believing, even when the odds are against me. Even when rejection letter after rejection letter comes back at me, I have to force myself to still put my work out there. They knock me down, I get right back up again.
Jess says
A lot of people are talking about the industry side of being a writer as the hardest part, but I interpreted your question to mean, literally, the hardest part of the WRITING side of things.
For me it’s the amount of time. I am a do-it-now kind of person, and I make time to write, but it’s still hard not seeing the grand fruits of my labor for six months. That’s why I love tracking my word count – I can see a change.
Michael Devers says
I can handle the waiting, the rejections, etc. Those are all things out of my control, so I try not to sweat it too much.
For me, the hardest part is any day when I am an unmotivated hack. It’s completely within my control, but those days still happen. At least I can find solace in blog commenting on those days.
Scott says
Cheers, Nathan. That’s very good to know.
I’ve been reading a book by Noah Lukeman, and he’s discouraged listing any minor accomplishments, and even suggested that many agents look to the bio first and will often pass if you’re a “nobody”. The “no unsolicited queries” stipulation I see all the time seemed to back up the idea that you have to be a pro to go pro. Bah.
I just think briefly stating my specific narrative and thematic intentions might strike a chord with an agent, and seem to remember a query sample here that was lauded for digging out the essence of the story. I never say I’ve accomplished what I was trying to do, but I really want the agent to be able to gauge my literary awareness.
See, I told you this was the hard part for me. :^|
Linnea says
The hardest part of being a writer is forcing myself to sit at my desk on days I don’t feel ‘inspired’.
Heidi C. Vlach says
The hardest part of submitting my first novel wasn’t being rejected, but not knowing why I was being rejected. Agents don’t want to start a conversation — that’s fair and understandable — but the “this is not the project for us” form letters drove me nuts! I’d much rather have been told that my prose was weak, or my query didn’t make it sound interesting, or they thought non-human characters would be too hard to market, or whatever else it was that made the agent say no. At least then I’d be aware of the issue and able to work at fixing it.
Debendevan says
Although I have a few dozen articles I have no book published. I think the hardest part of writing is the first sentence. The second part is the deadline. Especially after re-reading something I have submitted and realizing that I could have turned the phrase just so with better effect.
Debendevan says
Although I have a few dozen articles I have no book published. I think the hardest part of writing is the first sentence. The second part is the deadline. Especially after re-reading something I have submitted and realizing that I could have turned the phrase just so with better effect.
Sara says
All the glamour and money.
JJ says
Sticking it through when the patina of newness has worn off a manuscript and other projects seem so shiny and tempting…gaaah.
(Revisions are hell, can you tell?)
lotusgirl says
It varies from day to day. Today it’s not being interrupted.
Amanda says
By far, for me, the hardest part is the selling. The writing the pitch, writing query letters, all the nonfiction summary stuff. I’d take major editing or writer’s block any day over that.
Jael says
You’re going to follow this up with a “what’s the best part about being a writer” poll, right? Because this is depressing.
Kylie says
Another popular post. 🙂 I would say the hardest part is perserverence. It kills a lot of would-be writer. Perservering through the finish of your manuscript, through the constant rejections, through years spent improving your craft, through the attitudes of people around you who are not writers, through the publication and promotion of your book. You have to be very dedicated to be a writer and have very thick (see: bullet-proof) skin.
Anonymous says
That with all the work I’ve done (and enjoyed) and the climb to get an agent (which I have) that my book which I really believe is excellent might be reduced by means not in my control and that are not fair. And I’m not only talking about the subjective opinion of an editor–people like what they like–but to be discounted because of the timing of the current market for fiction–and/or the fact that someone might find the topic “familiar”–when all books are recycled ideas anyway and it is all comes down to the writing–
After all the hard work/pleasure in doing this–it is hard to stomach that I might still “fail.” I felt more secure training for a marathon at age 40, more confident that I would have a successful outcome.
And then looking ahead–I see my friends going nutso over promotion and reviews and their book dying or being mulched–and that just really sucks.
Still, I’m in it.
Kristina says
The hardest part for me is, after creating a the best plot and storyline I can, and the most well-rounded characters, I will pour my soul out onto paper, painstakingly rewrite to choose just the right combination of words, try my damnedest to balance it all and keep it interesting, yet the entire time I know that no one may ever care about the finished product. It’s doing it all anyway.
J. M. Strother says
The hardest part of being a writer is forcing myself to plug away when I don’t feel particularly inspired.
~jon
Kristina says
I mean, *the* best plot. 🙂
Lupina says
Sara, “all the glamour and money,” LOL! Very hard to keep from beating up people who assume getting any book published means instant millionaire status.
Hardest overall for me is keeping a thick skin, and remembering that people I submit novels to are making business decisions, and not decisions about my personal worth. Remembering that they are looking for greatness — or at least something saleable– and if they are not seeing that in what I send, realizing that maybe I haven’t worked hard enough.
Last week I sent first queries out for a new novel, and received such a quick nah-uh from the first agent that I figured my query must be horribly wrong. I rewrote it and received an equally swift request for a partial from the second one I sent it to. If I hadn’t squelched the desire to drown in ennui and adapted, that never would have happened. And it wasn’t easy, it was very hard. Much harder, psychologically anyway, than writing the novel.
The other very hard thing is keeping my dog from licking my keyboard.
:)Ash says
Self-doubt.
Sarah Jensen says
Balancing. Remembering that kids have to eat, and actually expect you to feed them. 🙂
The not writing time is my hardest time.
Rejections a small sting. But stepping away from the computer, that’s hard.
Robena Grant says
Getting that original spark of an idea–the one that stomps around in your head in big shoes–into some semblance of order, so that the idea transposes onto paper to be shared with someone else or hopefully many someones, and actually makes sense.
Kelley says
picking yourself up and coming out for another round. swinging.
sometimes you just get…tired. so weary. of fighting and believing and holding on.
but you can’t if you don’t, so you have to pick yourself up and come out for another round. swinging.
that, for me, is the hardest part.
Sarah Jensen says
And one more thing. Reading blogs. I spend too much time reading blogs when I should be writing, or feeding my kids. 🙂
Anonymous says
There are so many wonderful things about being a writer.
What’s hard?
Learning the craft.
The odds.
The loneliness of being in a room, on a computer, etc. with a project that can take years.
The rewriting and editing.
Not yet having listeners or readers when you have a story you want to tell.
The possibility that it will never be told or read.
The insecurity that it is not good enough.
The insecurity that it really is good enough but still won’t make it.
But then it is also magic too, archetypal at times, captivating,
entertaining, empowering too.
Anonymous says
how to understand
lie, lay, laid, lying,
*pounding head on desk*
Anonymous says
lain
(did somebody say tense?)
ahhhhhck
Colorado Writer says
Waiting for an answer on a submission.
Colorado Writer says
For the problem with: lie, lay, laid, lying.
Here’s how I remember the rule.
Boys Lie. (people)
Chickens Lay. (animals, inanimate objects)
Same with lying and laying.
Steve Fuller says
Nothing.
We are blessed to have the ability to write. We are blessed to have the free time to write. We are blessed to have anyone care about what we write.
Not to sound difficult, but man, writers like to whine, and it is annoying. Count your blessings, my friends.
Lady Glamis says
Believing that I’m good and not burning/deleting everything I’ve written up to this moment.
Good friends help.
And so does constructive criticism mixed with a healthy dose of praise.
Anonymous says
Thanks Colorado Writer.
Can you explain lain and laid to me?
Emily Cross says
I think the hardest part is the ‘doubting’ – you work hard on a manuscript with the belief that you may be good enough but “may be your not good enough” etc sort of thoughts are always there.
Due to the process, you don’t get feedback like people in other occupations etc. get – so you never know if you are just some self deluded sad person who ‘believes’ that they have talent but i guess all artsy careers are the same.
God, i sound depressed lol
Anonymous says
I think that the last 15,000 words are VERY difficult.
Anonymous says
My husband is the most well read, culturally informed, and intelligent man I know.
(Lucky me.)(And what an asset he was in graduate school while I was struggling with having to understand Literary Theory!)
And he is also my husband,
so when he tells me my writing is good,
(and boy oh boy he used to critique my letters to his mother!)
the “my husband liked it” clause always comes up and I drop Oreos on the floor and think about the guy 5 second rule.
D.A. Riser says
Supposedly “Know Thyself” was one of three sacred sayings carved upon the Oracle at Delphi’s temple wall.
That said, I’d say the hardest part of being an author is identifying your own strengths and weaknesses and adapting your writing to accomodate these.
Anonymous says
Terry Pratchett once said, at a lecture I attended,that he loved going to work with a beer in one hand and wearing his bathrobe.
However, occasionally, having donned the disheveled writer look, (no make-up, wrinkled clothes I live in, bad hair, and a butt that’s been sitting in a chair for a YEAR) gets to be too humiliating.
Kate says
The hardest part about being a writer is hearing from everyone in the business–agents, publishers, writers–about how hard it is to be a writer. There sure is a lot of doom and gloom out there.
Amy Nathan says
The hardest part about being a writer is the negativity put forth by other writers. I’ve sworn off many writers blogs because all they do is kvetch about the industry, how hard it is to publish (be it freelance writing or novel or nonfiction writing), how no one appreciates them and no one understands them.
And instead of saying shut up and write, I just don’t go back.
c3authorspot says
It’s been said already, but it bears repeating. Dealing with rejection of the work is the hardest thing there is for the writer. In addition to writing for a living (if you want to call it that…), I teach writing to kids from 4th through 9th grade. I can’t tell you how many of them say they cannot write because of just one comment of rejection from a former teacher. If we can’t take the rejection, we just stop writing. Alternately, we stop marketing our work, so our voices are never heard.
Vancouver Dame says
Hardest part of being a writer?
Finding the time to write, and getting a little respect from others. Most writing organizations don’t offer mentoring, and those that do have hefty annual dues. It’s a lonely business, and you need to develop alligator skin. Patience helps, too.
Doug says
I’d say it’s the lack of feedback, the not knowing. You write for a year or two, send it out and get form rejections. Was it because the manuscript wasn’t good enough? Was it because the agent had a bad day? Was it because it pushed some reject button on the agent? As writers we don’t know.
Can you imagine if you were an automotive engineer, you spent two years developing a new car, trucked it around the country for dealers to drive it, a few did, but no one ever gave feedback on what they liked or didn’t like. They just said no. You wouldn’t know what to change. Was it the wrong color? Was it the wrong shape? Were the seats too hard? How would you know?
How do you progress, improve, change your process for the better without good quality feedback? I’m not sure some people can.
It’s easy to get feedback from writing groups, friends, and family, but none of them are experts in what works and doesn’t work in the market. The only vote that really matters is the agent speaking for the market.
I wish there was a way for agents to magically have the time to provide the proper feedback, but unfortunately the system can’t handle that either. Agents gotta sleep too.
So what’s the magic answer? I don’t have one, other than to read a lot, write a lot, and submit a lot. Your craft will improve and at some point your luck is bound to change.
Doug P.
twitter.com/thenextwriter
MelissaPEA says
The hardest part is trying to carry on a conversation with a living, breathing person when there’s a simultaneous conversation between fictional characters in your head.
Bethanne says
PMS
Anonymous says
The hardest part for me is having to acknowledge, that craft matters so little to being successful.
I’m a book critic as well as a novelist so I spend a lot of time dissecting other authors’ work. The clearest recent case is “Twilight”. I didn’t even make it through the first chapter before I had to quit. It is a categorically awful display of the written word. It succeeds on no level. Yet, it sells.
It’s mystifying. I’m glad that over the years I’ve been able to separate the desire to be successful from the desire to write well and while I would certain love to see all my books in print and on best seller lists, I no longer feel the need to write for the express purpose of success.
Where it gets thorny is when I start considering my agent. She doesn’t get paid unless I do and I know it drives her nuts that the industry is so narrow-minded. I’m just thankful that she believes in my books enough not to give up on them.
Phoenix says
Knowing that even if I slog through all the other hard parts, the financial payoff is likely not going to be enough to support me. Even if I’m modestly successful, fiction writing will always be a moonlighting proposition, not a full-time career. :o(
What are typical advances for newbie mid-list authors running these days? $5K – 15K? At the high end, I would have to crank out, sell, and promote at least 8 books a year to equal the salary + benefits I make as a corporate writer/editor, especially since taxes, medical and retirement all need to come out of advances and royalties.
And short stories? Ha! Even in royalty-paying anthologies, my pubbed short stories have grossed only a couple of thousand dollars.
That, more than the daunting odds against even being published, is what really depresses me about the business. Not, of course, that I’m ready to give up on something so addictive and emotionally satisfying!
Anonymous says
Right now it’s the other things in my life, like my husband having a mid-life-crises, running off with another woman, and wanting a divorce after twenty-six years of marriage, then my son wanting to drop out of school because he’s so traumatized. Sometimes it’s really hard to write and I just want to be sad and read or watch movies for a few months. But I’m sure it will pass.
I think you get the point, though. Writing is the easy part. It’s the stuff that life throws at you that’s the hardest part about being a writer.
Chris Bates says
1. Lazing about whilst working from home.
2. Raiding the fridge every hour.
3. Surfing the net.
4. Reading books every day – for research of course!
5. Not changing into proper clothes until the crack of noon.
Yep, it’s a killer life. No wonder people go and get real jobs.