Oops! Mistaeks Happen

Thought for the day:    Learn from the mistakes of others. You can never live long enough to make them all yourself. [Groucho Marx]                                 

Hi-ya. Welcome to this month's edition of the Insecure Writer's Support Group meeting... er, virtual meeting, that is. This, the first Wednesday of the month, is the time when writers all over the world post about the ups and downs, the highs and lows, the ins and outs... of writing. We celebrate... we complain... we commiserate. Whatever we need, this is the place to find it. Humble thanks and a jolly tip of the hat go to Alex Cavanaugh, our fearless ninja leader and the originator of this fine group. If you'd like to join (It's FREE!) or would like to read some of the other posts, please go HERE

This month, we're gonna talk about making mistakes. I am the author of my life. Unfortunately, I'm writing in pen, and I can't erase my mistakes. [author unknown]

It's true. I do write in pen, but I don't worry about erasing anything. However, my process involves a lot of scratching out and writing in the margins.

[image: morguefile]

When Smarticus and I were on our way to Alabama to visit our son and his family, an overturned truck on the other side of the highway turned drivers into parkers for miles... and miles... and miles. (And miles!) No telling how long traffic had been stopped, but judging by the number of people mulling around outside their vehicles, it must've been pretty long. When we finally got past the blockage and saw those poor unsuspecting drivers blithely heading for the unexpected misery ahead, I wanted to yell, Go baaaack!

Not that they could've heard me, poor things.

Evi-doggone-dently, some writers feel the same about writing: If you have any young friends who aspire to be writers, the second best favor your can do them is to present them with copies of 'The Elements of Style.' The greatest, of course, is to shoot them now, while they're happy. [Dorothy Parker]

That's a bit extreme, but she does have a point. Without a doubt, there's plenty of joy to be found in writing, but there are a heckuva lot of unexpected traffic jams, too. The competition to carve out a comfortable spot in the writing world is fierce. It seems like bazillions of writers are scrambling to find an agent and/or publisher, and even more bazillions are self-publishing thousands and thousands of books every day. Sometimes it feels like all the other writers are flying down the superhighway in the other direction at a hundred and ten, while I'm still stuck behind an overturned truck. In all of those miles and miles and miles (And miles!) of aspiring writers stuck on the highway with me... how's a gal to get ahead? I don't want anyone to shoot me, but maybe it would be smart to simply... take the next available exit, sit back, and enjoy a nice strawberry shake. Or at the very least, take a detour. I'm getting too old for this crap.

Nah! A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing. [George Bernard Shaw]

Man, I must have honor and usefulness out the wazoo, because I'm a whiz kid when it comes to making mistakes. But like Albert Einstein said, Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new.

 As you might have guessed, in a roundabout way, this month's question is about mistakes. It is: What pitfalls would you warn other writers to avoid on their publication journey?

For me personally, my biggest mistake was putting off writing for so many years. I let the busyness of life, the child-raising, all the myriad volunteer activities and club memberships, etc. stand in the way.  I always figured I'd get serious about writing... later... and now, boyohboy, it's later, all right. So my advise would be to just do it, already! Don't fall into the trap of thinking you've got plenty of time. This isn't a dress rehearsal, and as far as we know, this is the only life we have, so if you truly want to write... write, doggone it!

You can't wait for inspiration to strike. You have to go after it with a club. [Jack London]

Other pitfalls, which fall into a do-as-I-say-not-as-I-do category:

• Don't worry about making your first draft perfect. Just get the words down, and worry about editing it later. (I could write OH so much faster if I could make myself follow this.)
• Once your baby is published, don't obsess over sales and reviews. Let it toddle off into the world on its own... and get to work writing something else. (Not that I, ahem, check them every day... or twice a day... or anything like that...)
• Don't take it personally when someone doesn't like something you've written. (As Megan Fox so eloquently put it, Hold your head high and your middle finger higher.) Just kidding. But face it: not everyone will like your book, because there's no accounting for taste. Heck, some people don't like steak or lobster...
• If writing is your dream, never give it up. Philip Roth said, The road to hell is paved with works-in-progress. That could be, but don't let that happen to you. If you love what you're writing, keep on writing! The going may be rough at times, but it's well worth it to finally cross the finish line. 

Don't carry your mistakes around with you. Instead, place them under your feet and use them as stepping stones to rise above them. [author unknown]

Works for me! My stepping stones are currently stacked so high, they look like a Stairway to Heaven...

                      Until next time, take care of yourselves. And each other.