Wednesday, May 27, 2009

The Crap Factor

I wonder, does a writer ever lose the "crap factor" when they're writing? You know what I mean, believing that everything you write is just crap. Wishing that you could unsend that submission you just emailed to an editor, then being totally amazed when they actually like what you sent them?

http://pgtremblay.livejournal.com/333915.html

5 comments:

Michael Bracken said...

"I wonder, does a writer ever lose the 'crap factor' when they're writing?"

Yes.

sandra seamans said...

Easy for you to say, Michael! Whenever I think I've written the best story ever, that's the one that hits the rejection wall hardest. That sort of thing tends to rattle your confidence.

Paul D Brazill said...

For me it depends on whose work I've read before I start writing.I'm reading '3 men in a boat' now and, you know, strangely enough, my stuff really doesn't stand up!

G. B. Miller said...

I lost the crap factor to a small degree right now.

I'm in the process of rewriting my earlier stuff to make it more malleable, because when I go back to read it some three years removed from writing it, I can't believe I thought it was actually good enough to submit to potential publishers.

My early stuff was on a whole other level of crapness, say a putrid cesspool.

sandra seamans said...

I know the feeling well, G. When I look at some of my old stories I wonder what I was thinking. I know that I've gotten better but some days it all reads like crap especially when I've been reading some of the old masters, like Paul said.