Two quotes from her blog entry to highlight and emphasize:
". . . there's is a problem when you become overly concerned with(and angry about)the success of others. This is a warning sign that you are headed down a slippery slope into paralysing bitterness."
and her conclusion:
"When I say get to work, I am not telling you to pick up a hammer and start breaking rocks. When I say get to work, I'm saying get back to you. Get back to where you started from when you said you wanted to be a writer, when you didn't know anything about the business."(emphasis added)
Thank you Ms. Jones for so eloquently stating what I believe, and also what I need to be reminded of now and again.
(Hat tip, January Gill O'Neil)
Dear Janice,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the link. About a year ago, I was getting NO WHERE with my novel. Because of this, i found myself rolling my eyes everytime I heard of anyone else getting a book deal or an award. Then, I took my savings and spend the summer all alone on Cape Cod and I wrote my little heart out.
Over that summer, I finished that novel I had given up for dead. What a noticed when I came back to my real life is that I wasn't so obsessed with other people. With my new manuscript in hand, I felt like a writer again and I didn't feel the need to tear others down. It was such a lesson to learn.
Tayari--thank you so much for stopping by! Cape Cod--kind of in my back yard. :) Drop me a line the next time you're through the Boston area.
ReplyDeleteI so resonate with what you say about envy and how destructive it is to one's own writing process. I work so hard to understand that the roots of jealousy are only my own fear and insecurity. The only way though that is forward.
May the words flow.