A to Z: E is for Ego

Oh yeah. We writers have egos. HUGE egos. We're also terrified of our own shadows and will sell our souls to publishers. I feel that my work is the best ever written and complete garbage…at the same time. You can see why we authors drink so much. It's hard coping.

One thing I've learned about being in the publishing business is that ego has got to go. Confidence needs to stay, as does the willingness to improve. Ego just gets in the way of learning, of relationships, and makes business decisions personal.

If I don't like a contract term, confidence lets me ask for a change or the power to walk away. Willingness to learn lets me be edited and accept that I don't know the proper use of a semi-colon and that my main character should have a relationship with her horse. Confidence lets me know that a suggestion is changing the tone of my book to something I don't want, and willingness to learn helps me address the issue and come to a compromise.

Ego does none of that. Ego says these are my words and how dare you change them. Ego blames rejection on others and not my own work, errors, or lack of proper market research. Ego tells me to lash out at agents and publishers and magazines. Ego tells me to publicly berate reviewers for saying my work sucks.

Once I figured this part out, writing, publishing, and every day life suddenly got a whole lot easier.