When I first started writing my book, I was super duper excited. I
read popular books from my genre, annotating the pages. I bought a stack of books about writing and improving your craft. I had excel
sheets outlining my story, and just in case that wasn’t enough, I made sure to
have sticky notes all over the house/car/purse/work desk... just in case I had a story idea that I had
to write down immediately.
But even though writing was becoming a huge part of my world, I didn’t
like to talk about it. In fact, only a few people knew I was even writing a
novel. Not my colleagues or closest friends. Not even my best friend, who, by
the way is a proof-reader for a publishing house, so you’d think I would’ve told
her for Pete’s sake. But no.
Why? Mainly because of
how it sounds when someone says “Oh, yes. I’m writing a novel.” (must be read
with a British accent for full effect).
There’s a lot of weird connotations
attached to that statement. Well, I think this video says a lot:
Yeah, I didn’t want to
be that guy, nor did I want my
friends and family to have to put up with that
guy.
I didn’t want to tell
people I was writing a novel. I wanted to tell them I’d written a
novel. Once it was finished and I was trying to get it published.
What about you? Do you keep your writing identity
secret, or talk about it often and openly?
When I saw your tweet about this post, I immediately clicked and read. I thought I was the only one who didn't talk about my writing! I kept it a secret from everyone (including my husband, which admittedly only lasted a few days!) for as long as I could. I wanted to be able to say "I wrote a book and it's getting published!" rather than talking about it during the process. I guess I was afraid of failing publicly. Since starting my own blog and querying I have grown more confident. It was so refreshing to find someone else out there like me! Great post!
ReplyDeleteIt seriously took me YEARS to talk to anyone (except my hubby) about my writing. For some reason I just felt embarrassed or thought people would judge me. Also, I knew they would ask me what my book was about and--even though I knew my novel inside and out--I was embarrassed to talk about it, because writing was (and still is) such a personal thing.
ReplyDeleteIt's a little bit better now. After awhile, you realize if you want your manuscript to be at its best, you have to have other people read it (eek!) and once it was out there and people started giving feedback (and talking about MY characters--pretty cool!) then I started feeling like a "real" writer.
I was also afraid of the public failure, for sure! But I'm finding SO much value in meeting other writers and being a part of a writing community! I realize I'm not alone and it's much better to go on this journey with others, even with the failures. :)
What is your blog URL? I'd love to check it out!
It's christiemurillo.blogspot.com. I LOVE the writing community too! The support on Twitter and in contests has been wonderful and the feedback amazing!
ReplyDelete