On Having Fun
Dean Wesley Smith, from Killing the Sacred Cows of Publishing
I love this quote. It’s so empowering, don’t you think?
Last week I wrote about getting caught up in self-doubt and depression. It’s something, I’m getting the feeling, is pretty common with writers. It’s kind of the nature of the job. And then Dean Wesley Smith comes along and writes a fantastic blog about having fun with your writing.
I am all over that one, I can tell you! I want to have fun. I want to love what I’m doing – who doesn’t? Now, that’s not to say that I agree with everything he says in his blog, because, well, he says to stop outlining, and for me, that’s the part of the fun. I love outlining my books. The plotting and planning is nearly the best part of writing—for me. Not for Smith, obviously, but for me.
But he also has a very basic, very important message in that blog and it is this: stop being afraid. If you’re not finishing your book, it might be because you’re letting your fear of ______ (fill in the blank: failure, not doing it right, no one will read it, everyone will hate it, it just plain sucks) get in your way. So, stop that. Dare to be bad.
I love that.
Maybe because my writing is bad. Sometimes. Sometimes it’s amazingly good, too. But I’m not afraid of it being bad. If I think it’s good, and I can get a few people (including my harshest critic, my husband) to agree with me, I’ll go with it. If my writing really is bad, I’ll work on it. I’ll edit it, rewrite it, whatever it takes (despite the fact that Smith thinks you shouldn’t edit your work – sorry, sweetie, you may not have to edit your work, but I sure as hell do).
But I’m not afraid of being bad, and that’s the key.
He says to stop looking for secrets. Well, actually, I kind of disagree on that one too. If I stopped looking for secrets to writing well, I would stop learning to write. I love learning how to write. I read writing articles whenever I find them.
Now, granted, a lot of the time they only say things I already know, and so I just skim them and then go on. But sometimes I find new information, good information. Stuff that will make my writing better (and by the way, whenever I find those articles, I always post them on my Chapter One Facebook page, which I’ve created for people who have taken my classes, but really, anyone can join).
So, again, sorry Mr. Smith, but I will continue looking for secrets because that’s how I learn and how my writing (hopefully) gets better.
But Smith does start off his inspirational sentence with something I believe very strongly in: this is my work. This is my writing. This is my art. It’s got my name plastered all over it and it’s got my personality thoroughly embedded through it. It’s in my voice. There is no way I can separate my writing, my art, from me. So I am going to be proud of it. I am going to stand up for it.
And so should you. Stand up for your work. Be proud of what you do. Not many people can be writers. Not many have that stick-to-it-tiveness (yeah, not a word, but I like it) that a writer needs. But most of all, as Smith says, what’s most important is that you have fun.
Just a small side note here – in his most recent blog, Smith has said that he’s going to make public just how much he writes every day. I think that’s fantastic – and brave. I’m thinking of emulating him, but I’m not entirely sure I would remember to post what I’d done that day, but I may give this a shot. It’s a great way for me to track how much I’ve accomplished in a day, and it’s also good to be publically accountable – to keep me honest about how much I’m actually working (or not). Do you think you could do that? Be totally and completely honest about how much work you got done? I’m thinking of trying this. Seriously. What do you think?
