Insecurity
I'm sure I've blogged about this topic before, but it's been on my mind a lot lately.
I was on the phone yesterday with a friend of mine who is also an author. We were talking about the ccraziness that is the writing industry. We're both at about the same place in our careers and have friends that are both higher and lower on the career food chain. It seems no matter how well we perceive someone as doing, they feel they are having problems.
That didn't make much sense. Let me see if I can give an example. . .
Hmmmm. . .
Okay, I'm a published author with almost 20 books out, but because they're all e-books and not available at Wal Mart, I feel like I'm low man on the totem pole.
A friend of mine has a three book contract with a New York Publisher, but because she's still in the mid-list and not getting huge print runs, she feels like she's low man on the totem pole.
Another friend of mine is struggling to get bought by an e-pub and looks up to a different friend who just got bought by the same e-pub who looks up to me because I've had 4 releases with them.
Do you see where this is going? All of us have accomplishments we should be proud of and yet, we're all still looking up to the next step, feeling like we're not as good as the person on the next rung of the ladder.
Not that I recommend boastfulness, but I sometimes wonder why we can't be happy at the spot we're in instead of feeling like we're not as good as someone else.
So for today, I'm going to push my thoughts of failure out of my head and dive into my edits, and be happy that I have edits to do. I'm not going to think about the fact that I'm not on the New York Times Bestsellers list, I'm going to enjoy the space I'm in and be happy in the present.
Sure, I want to strive to achieve bigger and better things, but along the way, I'm going to darn well appreciate the steps I've made.
At least for today.
I was on the phone yesterday with a friend of mine who is also an author. We were talking about the ccraziness that is the writing industry. We're both at about the same place in our careers and have friends that are both higher and lower on the career food chain. It seems no matter how well we perceive someone as doing, they feel they are having problems.
That didn't make much sense. Let me see if I can give an example. . .
Hmmmm. . .
Okay, I'm a published author with almost 20 books out, but because they're all e-books and not available at Wal Mart, I feel like I'm low man on the totem pole.
A friend of mine has a three book contract with a New York Publisher, but because she's still in the mid-list and not getting huge print runs, she feels like she's low man on the totem pole.
Another friend of mine is struggling to get bought by an e-pub and looks up to a different friend who just got bought by the same e-pub who looks up to me because I've had 4 releases with them.
Do you see where this is going? All of us have accomplishments we should be proud of and yet, we're all still looking up to the next step, feeling like we're not as good as the person on the next rung of the ladder.
Not that I recommend boastfulness, but I sometimes wonder why we can't be happy at the spot we're in instead of feeling like we're not as good as someone else.
So for today, I'm going to push my thoughts of failure out of my head and dive into my edits, and be happy that I have edits to do. I'm not going to think about the fact that I'm not on the New York Times Bestsellers list, I'm going to enjoy the space I'm in and be happy in the present.
Sure, I want to strive to achieve bigger and better things, but along the way, I'm going to darn well appreciate the steps I've made.
At least for today.
posted by Arianna Hart @ 8:14 AM
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