Pink Hair Dye & Promises

Ever had those times when writing was unbelievably difficult?
Someone is hospitalized...or worse...they die? Been there.
Acts of God, George, or Government derail you? Been there, too.
The Clairol-Impaired becomes a shade less desirable? Computer crashes? Muse deserts and takes the WIP with her? - I've got the CD, the ugly tee-shirt, and the bad hair.

Point is, you're not alone. It's not what happens to us that matters - it's how we deal with what happens.

A couple of weeks ago, one of my RWA groups got into a heated discussion over a comment someone made. She said that real writers write every day and that wannabes don't. Within minutes, as an officer, I began receiving angry emails and wails of "I'm ready to quit". I sat on my fingers to keep from typing for a few minutes. They'd forgotten, I guess, that the same woman had spouted in a monthly meeting not long ago that she didn't want group monies spent on bringing in an agent or an editor. Said there wasn't a damn thing they could teach her and that the group would be best served by simply learning to write better books.

By her definition, Sabrina Jeffries, Deidre Knight, and Sherilyn Kenyon - and others who have stated that they don't write every day and sometimes not even every week - are wannabes. *blink*

Yes, she'd recently sold and was feeling rather smug. And she had gone through most of the above mentioned reasons for not writing every day. Well, good for her. But what did it gain her to use her self-righteousness as a weapon and make others question their own place in the writing world? Absolutely nothing. She wound up losing a friend or two, not to mention consumers.

Whatever we accomplish should be due to the promises we make ourselves, not that we measure ourselves by someone else's yardstick. Chances are that they'd only beat us up with it at a later date anyway. Nobody determines our success but us, and our fellow writers - our competition, if you'd prefer looking at them that way (I don't - to me, they're just friends)...they should be cherished. They provide us with support and even mirrors by which we can see ourselves as others see us.

Here's sending every writer a cyber bottle of Windex so they can get that shine, that sparkle. Here's offering up chocolate, a kick in the pants, or whatever is needed. But if you take nothing else, take hope. You are not alone. Sit on the platitudes and instead deliver your best self.

Now. Somebody wanna come help me with my hair?