We Are All Savages Inside

THE INTERN linked to a really great piece of advice column writing, in answer to a question from a writer about how to get over the bitter jealousy they feel towards the success of other writers, and it makes a point that I think is crucial to remember:

"[ . . . ] my gut sense of your letter is that you've conflated the book with the book deal. They are two separate things. The one you are in charge of is the book. The one that happens based on forces that are mostly outside of your control is the book deal. You could write the world's most devastatingly gorgeous book of poems and nobody would give you $200,000 to publish it. You could write the world's most devastatingly gorgeous novel and maybe get that. Or not.

My point is, the first thing you need to do is get over yourself, Awful Jealous Person. If you are a writer, it's the writing that matters and no amount of battery acid in your stomach over who got what for what book they wrote is going to help you in your cause. Your cause is to write a great book and then to write another great book and to keep writing them for as long as you can.

— DEAR SUGAR, The Rumpus Advice Column #69: We Are All Savages Inside

Or as THE INTERN puts it, "Agents, editors, publishers, and the world at large can Reject your wish for a book deal. But NOBODY, read NOBODY can Reject your ability to write a great book."  What a great reminder to other people's opinions of your work separate from your own.  Even the opinions of people you might consider all-important arbiters of quality, editors and agents, are still just that — opinions. Concentrate on where your powers and responsibility lie.