Echoes in a Hollow Space

Random quote of the day:

“Always we want to learn from the outside, from absorbing other people's knowledge. It's safer that way. The trouble is that it's always other people's knowledge. We already have everything we need to know, in the darkness inside ourselves. The longing is what turns us inside out until we find the sun and the moon and stars inside.”

—Peter Kingsley, In the Dark Places of Wisdom 



Disclaimer: The views expressed in this random quote of the day do not necessarily reflect the views of the poster, her immediate family, Bert and Ernie, Celine Dion, or the Band of the Coldstream Guards. They do, however, sometimes reflect the views of the Cottingley Fairies.

Random quote of the day:

“What is it in us that lives in the past and longs for the future, or lives in the future and longs for the past?”

—Mark Strand, “No Words Can Describe It”

 

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this random quote of the day do not necessarily reflect the views of the poster, her immediate family, Lucy and Ethel, Justin Bieber, or the Kardashian Klan. They do, however, sometimes reflect the views of the Cottingley Fairies.

 

Mirrored from Better Than Dead.

Random quote of the day:

“The dead leave us starving with mouths full of love.”

—Anne Michaels, “Memoriam”

 

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this random quote of the day do not necessarily reflect the views of the poster, her immediate family, Siegfried and Roy, Leonard Maltin, or the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. They do, however, sometimes reflect the views of the Cottingley Fairies.

Mirrored from Better Than Dead.

Random quote of the day:

 

“The time of longing in your life is beautiful. All possibilities are ahead of you. You think you want to make something happen, but when it does—you finally publish a story, you publish a book, someone reviews your book favorably—you realize that the bliss lies in the moment you pluck a metaphor from thin air. It lies in the time spent at your desk.”

—Patricia Henley, “The Potholder Model of Literary Ambition,” Glitter Train Bulletin 20, September 2008

 

Disclaimer:  The views expressed in this random quote of the day do not necessarily reflect the views of the poster, her immediate family, Siegfried and Roy, Leonard Maltin, or the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. They do, however, sometimes reflect the views of the Cottingley Fairies.

Mirrored from Better Than Dead.

[Poll #1255854]

*Thanks to St. Augustine, Albert Einstein, George Eliot, Ashleigh Brilliant, Gail Godwin, Kenneth Grahame.

I really don't think the publishing industry owes me a damned thing. I don't think agents owe me anything, either. I'm a grown up girl and realize that just because I want something doesn't mean I'm entitled. I accept that reality. It's living with it that's sometimes difficult. But I accept that, too.

Why do I want to be published?

It has little to do with the sweet yearning at the heart of why I write.

♦ Part of why I want to be published is the need for validation. Except—accepting reality as I do—I know that publication does not equal validation. But getting published sure puts the cork in the mouth of Aunt Minnie who always said I was a fool to try anything in the arts. Who am I kidding? Nothing shuts up the Aunt Minnies of the world. So validation begins to look a little thin as a reason.

♦ Another part of it is so I'll have more than my friends reading my work. Here we're getting to the heart of something juicy. I can't tell you how amazed I was the first time I submitted my work to a public forum and people actually liked it—people who had no vested interest in saying it was good; no fear of hurting my feelings or seeming disloyal. Of course, my work wasn't (and isn't) universally acclaimed, but that was all right, too. Eventually. When I could accept that my first efforts weren't perfect and didn't need to be I took those first steps towards making my work better.

♦ There's also the bit about throwing myself out into the fray to see how I stack up, but the competition angle is not a main driver for me, never has been. I'd love to succeed, will work by butt off to get there, but for me it's not about jumping on someone's head and yelling, "I win!"

And none of the above has anything to do with why I write. Because when I have hit the 22nd chapter mile and realize I've come a long, long way—but still have 4.2 miles to go (or in my case, usually longer), there is nothing in validation, or readership, or competition that can help me get over the hump and finish the marathon. At the 22nd mile, all I know is that I'm tired, sick of the race, and I just want to lie down somewhere and sleep until Kingdom Come. And I swear I will never, ever do another one of these endurance tests.

But I finish. And I start another novel. Why?

After a little time off, a sweet, keening resonance vibrates through my psyche: a character steps out of the darkness and starts whispering his or her story. He shows me pictures of the place he lives; she introduces me to her relatives; he opens the window to the smells, tastes, touches of his reality. She cries out, "Please, give me my chance to live! Give me a shot at reality!"

Characters aren't real, but they do exist off the page: in my heart and imagination. And if I've done my work well, they can temporarily (and sometimes long-term) infect the dream reality of the people who have read my work.

That's why I write: in the hope of that resurrection of dreams. That's why I'll keep trying to get my work out there, despite the pitfalls and discouragement and endemic blues that follow most writers around. I accept the reality that it may not happen for me.

And I can live with that.