That book wouldn’t let me write it yet
Last night I went to hear a talk by Ed Viesturs, legendary mountaineer and well-known cool-headed guy. (Here he is with other sports and adventure icons on the 30th- anniversary cover of Outside, along with Lance Armstrong, Lynn Hill, and the rest of that burly crowd.) (Just so you know, Ed is the only one in that group who can climb Mount Everest without supplemental oxygen.)
Two years ago Ed completed his 18-year quest to climb all of the world’s mountain peaks above 8,000 meters. There are fourteen of them. It took him 18 years because even though he was on some of those mountains multiple times and was within sight of their summits, the weather didn’t always cooperate, and the conditions were too dangerous to continue. Ed has never had a problem turning back. He’s not one of these people with “summit fever” who views getting to the top as the ultimate prize. To Ed, mountain climbing has to be a round trip. “It’s no fun,” he likes to say, “unless you come back so you can do it again.”
Ed said last night that he doesn’t view any of those retreats as failures. “I just didn’t succeed yet. It wasn’t personal–the mountain just wouldn’t let me climb it yet.”
And here’s where we get to writing.
Not everything I’ve written has been published. Evolution, Me, and Other Freaks of Nature is my first novel as far as everyone else is concerned, but I know it’s the sixth one I’ve written. And while at least two of those previous novels will remain practice novels for me, I still have a real love for the other ones, and want to see them out there some day.
But I also know they aren’t right yet. Which is where Ed comes in.
What if instead of viewing those unpublished novels as failures, I think of them as mountains that wouldn’t let me climb them yet? I set out with the best equipment I had at the time, I was as fit as I could be back then, but ultimately the conditions and my skills just weren’t right. Yet. Maybe I needed another few years of experience and seasoning. And maybe now I have the improved skills to go back and summit some of those peaks.
It’s on my mind because one of those unpublished novels has been calling to me lately. It really wants to see the light of day. I love the story, love the characters, love becoming the lead girl as I’m writing her. Maybe that book just wouldn’t let me write it before, but now it would. I’ve written three other novels since then, I’ve lived two more years, and maybe now I could do it justice. I won’t know unless I try.
So this is my message of encouragement to all of you with novels that aren’t quite working right now: Do not despair. Maybe that book won’t let you write it right now, but it will in six months or a year, after you’ve written something else for practice. If you deeply love a book, keep it in your heart and head. Don’t throw anything away. But be willing to walk away for a while if you know you’re just beating your head against a wall.
The key is not to think of it as failure, or giving up. You’re just taking a break. You’re going off to write something else and get more fit so you can come back to the current project with the improved skills you need to write it. And maybe you’ll find yourself in my situation, selling the fresh novel first, then going back to tend to the ones you left behind.
Be willing to take a long view of your writing career. It’s not just about this one book, no matter how much you love it. It’s about all the books you can write in one writing lifetime. I got stuck writing and rewriting my first novel for six years. It wasn’t until I went on to something new that I finally realized I could write more than one book. Der. And some day I’ll go back and turn that first novel into the book I always meant it to be, but didn’t have the skills to accomplish at the time. Some day the conditions will be right.
In the meantime, I like the idea of having a writing career like Ed’s climbing career: 14 books in 18 years. Sounds like a pretty worthy goal. Maybe I could write even more than that, but I’m willing to start with 14. I know that every time I write and finish a novel, I get better at writing and finishing novels, so no work is ever wasted.
Hmm. 14 In 18. Anyone else want to join that club?
Technorati Tags: Writing, Publishing, Novels, Authors, Mountain Climbing, Ed Viesturs
Ha! Not sure about joining the 14 in 18 club, but I agree completely with your view of early books — I know with a couple of my novels, the story is far better than the writer who wrote it, and at some point, I’ll be a good enough writer to know how to do the story justice. In fact, I JUST think I figured out what I can do with my first novel (the one that got me writing), and now that I’ve got this idea, I can’t wait to get going on it.
This week I went back to a picture book idea that I’d written many years ago and completely re-wrote it. That first draft was nothing more than pylons stuck in the snow. Yeah, the story got from A to B, but in a very predictable, so what? way.
This second ascent walked the same route, but now I have so many more techniques in my pack that I didn’t even feel like the same climber/writer as I retraced my steps. But I think I would not even have remembered that mountain was there if I hadn’t kept the map of the first time.
Fab post, Robin. I loved it.
OK — Sara and I have been talking about the physicality of writing and using athletic metaphors to see through all the ups and downs and does this fit, or what??!?!! This just makes me want to go back to all my earlier work with my binoculars and see if the clouds have cleared…
Great advice Robin! I’ve actually been having a lot of trouble writing latly, having so many doubts, thinking it just isn’t for me because I just can’t seem to get the words out I can picture it just not write it out for some reason! O_O SO I actually just came out of it a little bit last night, but was still a little confused, and doubtful but this makes perfect sense! I’m still young I don’t have to figure every thing out right now, and I do love the charicters int he other books i’ve written so i really should just let them site and we can both mature and it time we might be ready to work together again! I think I get attaced to the charicters but lots of times I just can’t think what might happen and it buggs me but I think i’m feeling better now! Thanks again Robin, your the best!
could you stop being so inspiring for a while? it’s hurting my brain. ;^)
You are indeed incredibly inspiring, Robin. And all because you have chosen to reveal your weaknesses and be honest about the sweat that goes into every success you’ve achieved. I’ve been quiet for a few days because it’s been a WEEK. But right now, my husband and sister are off shopping in preparation for my 30th birthday party tomorrow night. I have no idea what to expect, but it sounds like it’s gonna be big. I’m excited and glad the week is closing with so much fun.
Anyway, thanks for being who you are and for sharing your writing road. The mountain metaphor is both comforting and challenging. And so is the stuff you have to do once your book gets accepted. Decisions, decisions.
I like that: “The climb wouldn’t let me climb it yet.” Sometimes the universe just isn’t ready for something to happen, no matter how hard you worked. Not that it will never happen, just that it will not happen YET.
RAH, Robin! Now I’m going to have to go home and write something, probably not a novel, but still.
Glad you all liked this idea! (Sorry, Pam.) I’m really chewing on it myself right now. Let’s keep each other posted on whether we’ve gone back to some old work, and if we’ve decided to try it again.