I grew up in such a different culture of the USSR, the Soviet politics and a ban on books that "It is just books" "unhinges" me because I still remember our poets and writers went to Gulag and some of them died there, like Osip Mandelstam and we, students read them though we could be thrown out from the Universities, and their books changed our lives completely. Different time, different society. I understand. Thank you for your article.
Ahh I love your calm approach! Every time I want to get even a little worked up about my writing, I’m humbled by what got me writing on here to begin with: doctors told me my baby in utero most likely wouldn’t make it. Then be made it, the most joyous day. Then, he had to be in the hospital 4 times in his first year of life. And I wondered, will my baby care if I am published or if my writing is perfect or if the world knows about me? No, he’ll want me to be present for him during very real emergencies of his life. I couldn’t have it both ways. It keeps me going now, even when we (thankfully) have a small amount of distance from the urgency that made me have to write to survive. It helps me not take myself so seriously.
Whew! I feel better now. I understand no process is perfect. There is no magic bullet. Thanks for honest encouragement. It helps me to keep on keepin' on.
This is just a fantastic subject line. Unrelated, I'm working on a proposal for a book I'm ghosting and I bookmarked several of your proposal-related issues.
I LOVED this. I could have written this for the music industry, where I’ve worked the last 15+ years. In fact, I might write a version inspired by this.
I found this so dead on and inspiring and just REFRESHING, so thank you!
Unhinged? What a nice term. So basically, a writer should get educated in the craft—formal classroom training or otherwise—should develop an idea into a story, should spend countless hours writing (while at the same time balancing all the other necessities of life like... oh, I don't know, eating, for example), should then rewrite (because writing—as we all know IS rewriting—until the work is good enough to qualify as "doesn't suck"), should send it out to a professional editor (who will likely delineate why the story continues to suck in the developmental and/or line edit evaluation), then rewrite some more, taking things like interiority into account and striking out as many missed filter phrases as possible, should then craft and polish a query letter (with synopsis) after learning why they're SO important (more classes), followed by long hours of research on MSWL and the like, find an agent who might just share the same interest, and then WAIT. Count the minutes that transmute to hours, days, weeks and so on ("we agents are swamped!") until, one day in the far, faraway, the author gets an answer! "Sorry, but I'm not the right fit for your work, but keep trying; yes and no are just a matter of personal opinion."
Unhinged? Nice word—evocative and very much on target. It's a wonder so many authors still have hair on their heads, having the equanimity to not pull it all out! 😝
I once had an agent say to me on first meeting, "people often cry when I give feedback on their manuscript". To which I replied, "I doubt I'll be doing that. I've held the hands of patients being told they have a terminal disease." Distress is a relative thing.
So true. I haven't published a book but I have translated a few - the first book that I ever did wasn't proofread (!) and I opened the book and of course found a typo. I didn't open it again for years. After that I always checked out the steps going forward and made sure to organise a proofreader if that hadn't been done yet. But of course, the world didn't end because of a typo or two.
Another really useful post, and your comment here about this post being free to all readers made me reflect on how much I appreciate that you do provide so much very helpful (and enjoyable) material to unpaid subscribers, and that you don't treat your readers primarily like a money-making opportunity. These things set you and your newsletter far apart from many other voices and newsletters about writing, and it's why I've dropped them and stuck with you. THANK YOU.
Yes! I'm sure they have lots to offer but I seriously can't afford to subscribe to that many people - supporting two patreons, 2 steady accounts and a charity is already starting to feel like too much 😢
Right. To be clear--I believe we should be paid for our labor, writers included, and yet as a professor at an underfunded state school, making basically nothing from my own (academic) publications and doing so much other unpaid labor, including many forms of writing, I can't afford to accrue a bunch of recurring subscription fees. But also--Kate's tone and writing voice are by far the most enjoyable ones to read!
Definitely! I totally agree - a passion is still work that should be paid for. I'm so glad that Kate and others choose to provide free posts too and really appreciate it 💐
Nice article. I share a lot of what publishing is on my substack too, but this line says a lot that you wrote: "You know what is actually pretty boring? The business of selling books."
I grew up in such a different culture of the USSR, the Soviet politics and a ban on books that "It is just books" "unhinges" me because I still remember our poets and writers went to Gulag and some of them died there, like Osip Mandelstam and we, students read them though we could be thrown out from the Universities, and their books changed our lives completely. Different time, different society. I understand. Thank you for your article.
Ahh I love your calm approach! Every time I want to get even a little worked up about my writing, I’m humbled by what got me writing on here to begin with: doctors told me my baby in utero most likely wouldn’t make it. Then be made it, the most joyous day. Then, he had to be in the hospital 4 times in his first year of life. And I wondered, will my baby care if I am published or if my writing is perfect or if the world knows about me? No, he’ll want me to be present for him during very real emergencies of his life. I couldn’t have it both ways. It keeps me going now, even when we (thankfully) have a small amount of distance from the urgency that made me have to write to survive. It helps me not take myself so seriously.
It was fun to read your essay! Thanks Kate!
Whew! I feel better now. I understand no process is perfect. There is no magic bullet. Thanks for honest encouragement. It helps me to keep on keepin' on.
I love your practical, down to earth, advice, Kate! Thank you for helping all of us stay grounded.
This is just a fantastic subject line. Unrelated, I'm working on a proposal for a book I'm ghosting and I bookmarked several of your proposal-related issues.
Such a great piece! THE WORLD IS NOT LIVING OR DYING BY MY WRITING 😉
I LOVED this. I could have written this for the music industry, where I’ve worked the last 15+ years. In fact, I might write a version inspired by this.
I found this so dead on and inspiring and just REFRESHING, so thank you!
This is relieving. Also, subscribed to Emma’s!
Very helpful!
Unhinged? What a nice term. So basically, a writer should get educated in the craft—formal classroom training or otherwise—should develop an idea into a story, should spend countless hours writing (while at the same time balancing all the other necessities of life like... oh, I don't know, eating, for example), should then rewrite (because writing—as we all know IS rewriting—until the work is good enough to qualify as "doesn't suck"), should send it out to a professional editor (who will likely delineate why the story continues to suck in the developmental and/or line edit evaluation), then rewrite some more, taking things like interiority into account and striking out as many missed filter phrases as possible, should then craft and polish a query letter (with synopsis) after learning why they're SO important (more classes), followed by long hours of research on MSWL and the like, find an agent who might just share the same interest, and then WAIT. Count the minutes that transmute to hours, days, weeks and so on ("we agents are swamped!") until, one day in the far, faraway, the author gets an answer! "Sorry, but I'm not the right fit for your work, but keep trying; yes and no are just a matter of personal opinion."
Unhinged? Nice word—evocative and very much on target. It's a wonder so many authors still have hair on their heads, having the equanimity to not pull it all out! 😝
Thanks for being a compass when I've smashed mine to bits :-)
I once had an agent say to me on first meeting, "people often cry when I give feedback on their manuscript". To which I replied, "I doubt I'll be doing that. I've held the hands of patients being told they have a terminal disease." Distress is a relative thing.
So true. I haven't published a book but I have translated a few - the first book that I ever did wasn't proofread (!) and I opened the book and of course found a typo. I didn't open it again for years. After that I always checked out the steps going forward and made sure to organise a proofreader if that hadn't been done yet. But of course, the world didn't end because of a typo or two.
Thanks for the newsletter!
Susannah
Another really useful post, and your comment here about this post being free to all readers made me reflect on how much I appreciate that you do provide so much very helpful (and enjoyable) material to unpaid subscribers, and that you don't treat your readers primarily like a money-making opportunity. These things set you and your newsletter far apart from many other voices and newsletters about writing, and it's why I've dropped them and stuck with you. THANK YOU.
Yes! I'm sure they have lots to offer but I seriously can't afford to subscribe to that many people - supporting two patreons, 2 steady accounts and a charity is already starting to feel like too much 😢
Right. To be clear--I believe we should be paid for our labor, writers included, and yet as a professor at an underfunded state school, making basically nothing from my own (academic) publications and doing so much other unpaid labor, including many forms of writing, I can't afford to accrue a bunch of recurring subscription fees. But also--Kate's tone and writing voice are by far the most enjoyable ones to read!
Definitely! I totally agree - a passion is still work that should be paid for. I'm so glad that Kate and others choose to provide free posts too and really appreciate it 💐
Nice article. I share a lot of what publishing is on my substack too, but this line says a lot that you wrote: "You know what is actually pretty boring? The business of selling books."
Very sensible and timely. Thank you.