Practical schizophrenia

[pjthompson]

Quote of the day:

This is what popped out of the random quote file today...

"You can't call yourself a writer until you have enough rejection slips to paper your den."

—Connie Willis

So I thought, "Okay, by that measure, I've got a ways to go. I could cover one wall, max." Then I ran into this quote when I was looking for a picture to illustrate the above quote so I could post it here at work:

"Ten years of rejection slips is nature's way of telling you to stop writing."

—R. Geis

And I thought, "By that measure, I'm in trouble."

I looked a little further and I encountered this short essay by Steven Swiniarski who has published many books under the name S. Andrew Swann:

http://www.sff.net/people/SASwann/text/fotnstory.htm

And I thought, "Yeah, who the hell is R. Geis, anyway?"

Which gave me an epiphany of sorts. Being a writer is, at the very least, an exercise in practical schizophrenia.

I'm going to return to my own little world now, the one of writing and sending it out. I much prefer it to the rationally-bounded world of R. Geis. It's not like I can stop, anyway.

This is the illustration I wound up using, btw. I choose it not just because it's a nice visual, but because it's about turning your rejections into something new and moving on.







ETA: I was discussing this with a friend who said, "Marketing is a side issue. You are a writer, and it's not like that's going to ever change. So just do what you have to do—write."

And I have to allow as how she's right.

Comments

[mnfaure.livejournal.com]

Yeah, who is Geis? I have one rejection for one thing sent out. Gotta get more in the mail so I can catch up to you. :o)

[pjthompson]

Yeah, you'd better get busy. I want to see a half wall's worth by the end of the year. ;-)

[mnfaure.livejournal.com]

*prays for rejection.* Gotta have wallpaper. Gotta have wallpaper.

[everyonesakitty.livejournal.com]

Yeah, who the hell is R. Geis? If he/she/it gave up, then he/she/it is a quitter. *firm nod*

I have 12 years of rejections in my file cabinet--my first for a group of short stories I submitted to literary magazines in 1994--but I would not quit for anything. R. Geis is a big ol' poopy head.

[pjthompson]

Yeah, he's the poopyheadedest! I've got a rejection from the New Yorker from high school. (And yes, I've still got it.) *blushes* I can't believe I sent that story there, but I was young and foolish. :-)

[kmkibble75.livejournal.com]

Which gave me an epiphany of sorts. Being a writer is, at the very least, an exercise in practical schizophrenia.

Every single one of my writing personalities would agree with this.

Along the Geis lines, I paraphrase Stephen King: 6 rejections? Keep going. 60? Keep going. 6,000? Well, maybe you should think about other hobbies.

But then again, 6001 could be the one that'll sell. Limits, though, are silly for most writers because it's something that we'd do in one quantity or another anyway. The getting published part is just sort of a side-goal. (Not to say we aren't aiming to get published, but if chances for that were taken awy for one reason or another, we'd still write anyway.)

The rejection limits, I think, are only for the people who are in it for the money. In which case, like with any profession, there probably is a point where you should pack it in (like after a pro football player has been cut by all 32 teams).

[pjthompson]

Along the Geis lines, I paraphrase Stephen King: 6 rejections? Keep going. 60? Keep going. 6,000? Well, maybe you should think about other hobbies.

Well, the man sent Carrie out 50 times before someone bought it, so he knows whereof he speaks.

The getting published part is just sort of a side-goal. (Not to say we aren't aiming to get published, but if chances for that were taken awy for one reason or another, we'd still write anyway.)

That's exactly write. Er, right. I have always done this, regardless, and I probably always will. The elves living in the walls won't let me stop, anyway. ;-)

[sartorias.livejournal.com]

Took me 20 years to sell. But I've known since I was eight that I was a writer. (No modifier there--I still hope maybe one day to be a good writer, but writer...if you write, you're a writer.)

[pjthompson]

Yup, I've known since second grade and I don't think anything's going to change it. I blame it all on Miss Cooper playing that passage of Peter and the Wolf and telling us to write down what it made us imagine. :-) (Well, and my dad's storyteller genes, I guess.)