Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Diagnosis: Delusion

Dreams are great - they're more than great, they're vital. However, sometimes we can let dreams morph into delusions that lull us into irresponsible procrastination (a little procastination is healthy) or steer us off a cliff into the chasm of unreasonable expectations.

My little post derives from a much bigger, and excellent, post by agent Holly Root. Holly describes a problem she sees among new writers that she calls "cart-before-the-horse-itis." First of all, big points for awesome virus name. Second, let's all take a big dose of reality check as Holly suggests.

I'm not a patient person (that's an understatement), but I'm experiencing necessary patience growing pains because writing and publishing require lots of time and patience. Without allowing for one's craft to develop, your readership to grow, your ideas to evolve and make even better books, a writer's delusions can end up a career train wreck. Writing is a way of life, not a manuscript, not a sale, not a signing. Dreaming is good, delusions get us nowhere.

2 comments:

  1. Hoping my sarcasm will read here as I say: THANKS for letting us know that even after we are writing out ACKNOWLEDGMENTS we still need grounding. Gheesh!

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  2. My reaction was the same at first Suzanne, then I realized it was more of a reminder that there it still hard work and sweat amongst the falling confetti!

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