“Make mistakes”
Someone brought this post to my attention. It’s by a literary agent, and I think there’s a lot of value in what she says–especially if you’re feeling, as she said, paralyzed by fear that you’re not doing things right. It goes back to what my favorite writing teachers told me: write it, finish it, mail it off, write something new, finish it, mail it off . . .
And notice her note at the end about what not to do. Sounds a lot like one of my favorite phrases.
Technorati Tags: Janet Reid, Writing, Publishing, Writers, Agents
April 18th, 2008 at 11:42 pm
I think about the choices that I’ve made that may or may not have been “good” choices. When they’ve worked out, people have said, “Wow, you really followed your instincts! That’s great!” When they haven’t worked out, sometimes the response is, “Well, that wasn’t very wise.” To be honest, the worst criticisms for when things haven’t worked out have come from my own brain. Sometimes, things that seemed like mistakes in the short-term end up being good ideas in the long-run.
April 19th, 2008 at 10:05 am
Ha, Alkelda, that’s so true! People admire intuition when it leads to wonderful things, but they’re always so suspicious of it sending us off on the wrong trail. Like everything, I assume it’s a matter of practice. The more I pay attention to my gut and take the risk of following my instincts, the better I’ll get at knowing what to do. Anyway, thanks for your input–love to hear other people’s perspectives on this.
April 21st, 2008 at 8:56 pm
I really like that post. I’m not a fiction writer, but man, that stuff applies to life — every single one of those items does. I like #1, in particular. In fact, “forget that crap about . . .” might be the best way to deal with most assumptions.