Drudgery: What Separates Those Who Dream From Those Who DO
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Drudgery—enduring the tired, tedious and unremarkable chores—is what makes the difference between those who dream and those who do.
Why am I talking about this? Because recently I saw some quote scroll past on social media. It was something (of course) posted by one of those super happy ‘life coach’ people.
Though I’m certain the quote was meant to inspire, it hit a sour note with me. It seemed dismissive of the pain, sacrifice and—yes, suffering—of those willing to dream, and then stick to that dream.
I don’t recall the quote’s exact wording (they’re all so similar), but the saccharin essence was the same. Apparently, if you don’t LOVE every single moment of what you’re doing, then maybe you don’t have the right career.
Keep searching! Dream! You have a right to be HAPPY! If it isn’t making you HAPPY, then MOVE ON!
As a social media expert, my role is to guide creative professionals and train y’all to get the most out of social media (without selling your creative souls). My mission has always been to help writers use their imagination along with digital tools to craft their brand.
I have zero desire to lobotomize creative people and turn y’all into sales bots.
The ‘brand’ serves to help writers curate content most likely to attract those who dig what they have to offer. This is working smarter, not harder. It’s simple, Stephen King’s fans are NOT the same as Amy Tan’s.
The content eventually evolves into what we call ‘our author platform.’ From there (our platform), we can create relationships/friendships and cultivate a passionate audience who might not only buy our books, but who might also eagerly spread the word. Yay!
Words like brand, platform, sales, audience, etc. might be dirty words for some people, but I don’t have such luxuries. I doubt many people do. Even mega-authors whose NAMES ALONE sell millions/billions of books use social media.
If Sandra Brown sees value being on Instagram, Anne Rice actively engages with fans on Facebook, and J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) uses Twitter, suffice to say we could take a lesson or five.
See, writing—much like any worthy undertaking—comes part and parcel with a lot of drudgery and loads of stuff we’d rather not do.
Learning Curve Drudgery
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A lot of folks believe that just because they’re proficient in their native language, they are then automatically qualified to write amazing fiction. Yeah…no.
Not judging at all. I used to be one of those people. I had zero concept how ridiculously hard it was to craft a readable story, let alone a good one.
Writing a novel that could span anywhere from 50K to 150K words (depending on genre) that manages to grab then hold a reader’s interest? AHHHH! Balancing plot points, plot arc, character, dialogue, scene and sequel, A-lines, B-lines, on and on?
It doesn’t take too long to understand why many great authors turned to booze and drugs.
*gives Poe a pass on the whole ‘heroin addiction’ thing*
Far too many writers start out believing the first novel they write is perfect, and if anyone counters this? They fall apart. Some give up. A few hire ‘editors’ who are happy to tell them ‘the other meanie editor was totes unprofessional and it’s fiiiine to have fourteen POVs all from cats.’
Others double-down on the denial and write a sequel or—God help us all—a series of equally crappy books that don’t sell.
Why?
Because learning to write novels is hard.
I’ve been through this, myself. My two main mentors both made me cry…a LOT. And I am NOT a person who cries.
These mentors were nothing like my writing group. My writing group was so encouraging!
Bob and Les didn’t tell me my writing was unicorn tears, they told me it was more like what might come out of the other end of a unicorn.
No, not a unicorn. A hyena with tapeworm and a bad case of mange.
*weeps*
I didn’t love writing the same stuff over and over. Guess what? Didn’t love reading and rereading the books they recommended I study.
Come to think of it, I didn’t love putting out my best only for it to come back with so much red I wondered if it had been hit by a bus then SHOT before they returned it.
Sure I could have quit. Thought about it a lot. A lot.
Because shouldn’t I LOOOVE every moment of what I do? But, I didn’t quit because I wanted to become an excellent writer. I’m still a work in progress.
My critique group were fantastic cheerleaders, which we need…but not necessarily to make us better.
Cheerleaders look super pretty, but cheerleaders don’t train touchdowns.
Coaches who call out bad form, terrible plays, and awful habits create winners. These experts are hired to criticize, make a player watch footage over and over and, if warranted, do cherry-pickers until the player wants to DIE. Might seem ‘mean’ but THIS is what will help that player make touchdowns.
Drudgery. Not pom-pom waving.
Writing Drudgery
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There’s drudgery in the actual writing. Oh no! Yes, you heard it here first. Writing, while one of the BEST jobs in the world, contains more than its fair share of suckage.
The first draft can be loads of fun, until the mire of Act Two where you find yourself contemplating sudden and unexpected alien abduction—either for yourself to spring you from writing, or for your characters because you’ve messed up somewhere in the plot and written yourself into a corner.
Becoming successful in writing (or anything really) is never in the BIG things we do. It’s the compilation of a lot of small acts that build up over time.
It is showing up day after day even when we’d rather get a root canal than figure out what went sideways somewhere between page 1 and page 400.
We have to research, proofread, edit, revise, and all of this takes focus and time and pain. By the time a book is ‘ready’ to be published, odds are you’ll hate your own book and hope you never have to read it again.
***FYI: The feeling passes…eventually. Most of the time. Maybe.
Publishing Drudgery
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For those who want to traditionally publish, there is the drudgery of writing synopses and query letters and researching agents. Add the drudgery of the actual querying and subsequent waiting.
Meanwhile, most of us have day jobs and laundry and family members who expect to be fed every day #HighMaintenance.
Oh, and make sure to start writing the next book 
