I swear sometimes this writing thing is turning me into a manic-depressive (or bipolar, if you prefer the newer term).
I get a good review. YAY!
And then I get refused for advertising based on my cover. :sob:
But then someone complements the cover that got panned. YAY!
And someone asks when my next book will be out. YAY!
But then I don't see any sales for days. :sob:
And my WIP sucks. :sob:
But then people buy my books again. YAY!
And then I get a negative review. :sob:
Ultimately, those yay and sob moments effect my general outlook on my writing, which then effects my ability to do my job. Riding high, I can sit down and whip out the pages. In the depths of despair, I'm lucky if I can write blog posts, let alone work on the things that will eventually make me money.
I know it's all part of the dance. It sucks, but it's reality and I deal with it. I have discovered recently that fishing tends to even it all back out again. For me, anyway. What's the old saying? "The worst day fishing is better than the best day working." Umm, yep. Whether I'm catching a ton or not getting a nibble, sunny day or pouring rain, bugs or no bugs... I still come back with a clearer outlook. It's like flushing the system. Or rebooting. Or whatever analogy works best for you.
I think it happens to all of us. If you know a writer who doesn't face this to some degree, please introduce me to them so I can learn their secret to living on an even keel. (Or at least the secret of how they're faking it.) Until then, I'm a manic-depressive writer.
Today is a good day. I'm all even. No spikes or drops. For now. We'll see what the rest of the day brings.
Some of us just hide it better--and don't look at reviews. LOL
ReplyDeleteI need to find my version of fishing. As soon as I hit this deadline...
Back to work. Oh! Which cover got denied?
I can't imagine what it'd be like to read a review of your hard work and fine it's a bad one. I don't often read reviews when I chose a book because some people are just nasty, and say the most horrible things. In fact it sometimes makes me read the book because I can't believe it's as bad as some of the review make it out to be - and more often than not I'm right. Don't read them....!
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you find fishing a head clearing activity as you creative types have so much more going on in your heads than the rest of us. It's good to have a balance.