Permission to Screw Up: Granted

y yo tambien--s6

robjvargas said:

Well... no. Not explicitly. Nobody said, "You should quit."

I can't document this, because the impression I got was vague anyway. Perhaps an expression within my own head that it wasn't being said enough?

I suppose I saw a lot of replies trying to calm the OP by saying it's okay to step back and consider if this is their path.

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Which I think is, a lot of the time, a reaction to the sentiment that it's not okay to quit.

Really, it's okay to quit, and it's also fine to not quit. One just has to examine one's reasons with a clear head, is all...

But all that talk of stepping back and pondering and considering... I used to live in walking distance of the Dallas Cowboys training facility. When one of those players found themselves in a funk, they didn't ponder or reflect.

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I would imagine that getting paid a lot of money does something to one's motivation

We *do* screw up now and again. Sometimes a doctor prescribes all the right tests and the patient still dies. And the military's maxim that "no plan ever survives implementation."

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Sure. I think most wouldn't disagree that screwing up is natural.

Well I'm a slow drafter anyway, bad or not. The length of this sentence may suggest why.^^

As for giving up, sometimes that's the right action to take. I've done it twice, years apart. And I was right to do so each time, for different reasons. (The first was that I was still too weak in my writing skills, the second that my family and my job needed more of my time: ill wife, young kids, focusing on my career so I could make the money needed to take care of my family.)

The third time was the right time. I'm loving my writing and writings and I'm getting better all the time. So don't be afraid to quit. Just don't be too ready to do it.

shakeysix said:

y yo tambien--s6

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How about a translation. Not that I need one myself.

Just for the benefit of others who may not.

robjvargas said:

But all that talk of stepping back and pondering and considering... I used to live in walking distance of the Dallas Cowboys training facility. When one of those players found themselves in a funk, they didn't ponder or reflect. They *did* take time to figure out what they were missing. They are in training camp in the first place because it takes time and effort to get up to the level of play expected of them. And even then, they don't always get there (BEARS! ).

Of course, that analogy isn't a perfect fit. What analogy is?

We *do* screw up now and again. Sometimes a doctor prescribes all the right tests and the patient still dies. And the military's maxim that "no plan ever survives implementation."

I have what I think is a great idea for a retelling of the Peter Pan fairy tale. I've fallen flat on my face trying to tell it. Twice. Maybe I'll never have the wherewithal to tell it. But as long as I think I'm a writer, and love writing, I'll keep taking a whack at the brick wall to see if I can break through, or get over.

Oh, and as long as I don't break bones.

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So many thoughts in response to this, trying to come up with something that might make sense to anyone other than myself To be clear, I'm speaking only for myself.

First, as mentioned by Buz, those players are working on contract, being paid to play as hard as they can, as well as they can. Someone(s) looked at their stats and moves and said yes, we're putting money behind this player, choosing him above the next.

Without a contract and/or representation, we're writing on hope. Some might say faith--there are times I say faith, other times I say delusion.

There's a line between positive thinking and magical thinking. I'm not sure where that line is, and I think the boundary is different for each person, but I believe it exists.

For the record, I'd love to see your retelling of Peter Pan.

I think you have to have some talent to start. Then you have to put in a lot of work. This combination is what I believe will lead people to success, but you need both parts of it.

My first and only career was as a journalist. I didn't go into it because I wanted to be a writer. I wanted to be a journalist. Even though journalist write, there is a difference. I gave myself six months after graduating with a journalism degree to find a job in the industry. It worked. I landed a good first job followed by a long career where my dream of being a foreign correspondent became a reality. I really worked hard throughout my career. I never once thought I sucked.

I have since left journalism and shifted to creative writing. I wrote professionally for over a decade so I know I don't suck. Am I good enough? That is still to be determined. When I started writing fiction, I treated it like a job with deadlines. I wrote a lot and still do. I can see how much I have improved. I started to see improvement after a few months. If this didn't happen for me, I don't know how long I would have continued.

I can't stress enough how important reading is to this process. We nave millions of good examples at our fingertips when it comes to good writing. Use them!

It is one thing to feel discouraged. It is another thing to suck and know it. I'm not saying anyone here sucks. We are not always the best judges of our work and abilities, but I believe we are aware of if we are improving and how hard we try.

There is nothing wrong with allowing and encouraging ourselves to take risks as writers, but why does that have to translate to allowing ourselves to screw up?

Parametric said:

If we're saying that failure is only a stepping stone toward success, that's a nice thought, but perhaps not applicable to the 99% of aspiring writers who will never reach success. For them, failure is only a stepping stone toward more failure.

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I disagree. Even if a writer doesn't make a career from writing, they can still enjoy the ride while writing. I believe writing is something an author should enjoy doing, and even if he/ she doesn't get a monetary return, if they do enjoy the process, then they have been a success at self entertainment.

Ken said:

How about a translation. Not that I need one myself.

Just for the benefit of others who may not.

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"Me too."

caw

I think it's sometimes important to remember that very few published books are perfect, either. I have to remind myself of this a lot or I get hung up on absolutely terrible submission angst. I blogged about it awhile back because I'd just finished re-reading one of my favourite books and I wanted to launch it because of a mistake at the end that jarred me. Then I remembered that the line I disliked was probably a calculated risk, I'd not noticed it before, and it's there. It works in a certain way. It doesn't in others. Sometimes I care, sometimes I don't, but it's always a good read in spite of the risk.

I think this happens a lot in SYW and workshops. After 5-6 good crits--and most of the readers here are solid--even the possible mistakes have been flagged for further thought. This is good, unless we take out all of those flags because they might be wrong in one person's view.

If a work is written too well it feels safe. Which isn't to say it should be full of clunky phrases or poor grammar, just that the odd bizarre phrase is what makes a voice interesting. Occasional bad grammar is what makes a writer human. Story diversions that don't make sense give a book it's feel, and for me is one of the biggest things that differentiate books from more easily quantifiable digital media. I was thinking about this the other night. I was trying to find a way to justify it and the best I can come up with is that there's magic in the odd. We can critique it right out of stories sometimes.