After blogging for some time about this and that and whatever little gem popped into my brain, I stepped back and wondered, “Why blog?” I have no technical knowledge to speak of, and my life is not all that interesting to the random outsider, so I’ve never been too disappointed about readership or overly concerned about consistency. After my respite from blogging, I’ve decided to blog for a while about my new project. You can track my novel by reading entries entitled “Novel Birth”.
If you write and if you have ever searched the Internet for wisdom on writing success, you likely went away distraught, harrowed, and more than a little confused. I certainly have. Are we asking the proper question? Writing success is more a confluence of skill and contacts and luck and timing and market than anything else. So, is it realistic or even appropriate to expect successful writers to tell us how to emulate them?
Sure, a certain amount of “how it’s done” is crucial. But, the nuances of writing necessarily negate any silver bullet of success. As I trolled the Internet looking for said imaginary silver bullet, I experienced the many phases of grief. I denied that there was no silver bullet. I was angry about what was touted as silver bullet. I preached and practiced some would-be silver bullets. And, finally, I accepted that there are no silver bullets.
Now, I stick behind much of what I wrote on “the write tip” blog at www.shyjot.com/blogging. For instance, writers write. It would seem commonsensical to presume that a successful writer writes; however, many many people with their names on book binds never wrote a word to grace the pages between. They used ghosts. So, even a simple truism of “writers write” is not so simple.
You’ve been looking for the silver bullet to writing success. Trust me, I know. The method or the means or the agent or the publisher or the words that will ensure your success – financial, critical, or otherwise. Are you ready?
The elusive silver bullet to writing success: discover what works for you, discard what doesn’t, and don’t listen too much to others.
To test my theoretical calculus of success, I have begun a novel with just such theory in mind. In the coming days and weeks, I will give you a window to my method and also to what I consider success. If some of it works for you, great. If not, throw it out.
-Amanda Salisbury, writer, ShyJot Publications LLC
Tags: amanda salisbury, blog, grief, Novel Birth, shyjot, silver bullet, success, writer