We Little Fish

Dan Brown has a new book coming out and the shit-slinging has already begun. There are writers out there bitching about the enormous print run that he's getting, blaming readers, cursing the gods. Give it a rest, already! The man paid his dues. He sat his ass in the chair, booted up his computer and finished what he started. "The Da Vinci Code" was his THIRD book, not his first, and who knows how many failed attempts are sitting in a drawer somewhere.

Is he the best writer in the world? Hell, no, but the stinking fickle stars of fate happened to align in just the right place for him. And in the end, no matter how hard you work if you don't have the luck you're just not going to make it.

There I said it. This business is about being in the exact right place, at the exact right moment, with the exact right story. And if you don't believe that, you're only fooling yourself. Life spins us like that little ball in the roulette wheel and no matter how hard we work or pray for success, it's still that one lucky chance that wins out.

People spend too much time telling everyone that all they have to do is work hard and they'll succeed. LIES. Life doesn't give a damn how hard you work. I'm almost sixty, so take my word for it, life doesn't give anything to anyone, no matter how hard you work. That doesn't mean that you shouldn't work hard and have faith in yourself and your writing. Giving up isn't an option either. Just don't believe that by showing up and doing the work you're going to have the world handed to you on a silver platter. If everyone got what they deserved because they worked hard and did everything right, we'd all be billionaires.

Do you love writing? Does it give you great joy to put words on the page and see them published? So many writers, after they reach a certain level of success, start complaining about the work, about the deadlines, and the piss-poor pay for all their labor. I sometimes think that I never want to be a success in this business. I don't want to lose the pleasure that writing brings to my life. If it comes my way, will I grab the brass ring? Of course, and so will you because in the end that is our dream, to put our words and stories out there for people to read, even if only one person gets what we're trying to say.

Being a little fish in a small pond can be just as satisfying for a writer as being the whale in an ocean of fish. I guess what I'm trying to say is that as a writer you still need to keep striving to be the best that you can be, but don't fool yourself into thinking that only the best make it. They don't. That fickle finger of fate is what this whole business comes down to. And if you can't deal with that, you might as well get out now.

In this world of writing that you've embraced, take the time to appreciate the small successes that come your way. Pissing and moaning because someone else got the luck isn't going to make you any luckier, its just going to rob you of the pleasure that writing has brought into your life like good writing friends, shared Snoopy Dances for each other, and the stories themselves. Appreciate where you are because life is about the journey, not the destination.

Since this post is about our small claims to fame, tell us what new success has come your way recently, what you're looking forward to, or just do a Snoopy Dance for a friend. Celebrate your achievements and forget about the brass ring today.