You Are Not Your Stories

So, just for the record, I'm closing the rant before it gets started.

In html, it would look like this:

rant /rant

In real life it looks like this:

Hey, writer! Yeah, you. You are not your stories. Yes, you've spent time crafting them, cuddling with them, brushing their hair, feeding them, and sending them into the world. But they are not you. They aren't even, really, a part of you, no more than the the u-bend of my toilet is part of my plumber.

I know it's a popular thing to say: each story I write is part of me.

But this is why authors tend to take too much personally. A rejection is not about you. A bad review is not a reflection on you as a person. How you respond (or don't respond) might be, but the review itself isn't.

I've written scores of stories and several short novels. This is the 728th post to my blog. I've even composed some poetry. If every word I wrote was a piece of me, I'd have gone Lord Voldemort years ago and littered the digital landscape with tiny fragments of my soul. Now that would be scary.

Yes, I care about my art--but experience has taught me this: me ≠ my writing. Thank Zeus.

If I was to rant, it might look something like this:

rant Stop pissing on other writers, reviewers, editors, and write. /rant

Have a great day, people.