I woke up yesterday to a five star review on Memory Bound. (A big thanks to fellow author and Christian, Priscilla Bettis for her review. Check her out at The Well Read Fish or on her Amazon author page here.) The review was timely as I’ve been in a season of reflection and growing quiet. As Fall is here, it’s getting colder and darker earlier. I’m starting to grow fur, I found a nice cave to prepare for hibernation, and I have my reams of rejection letters I’m feeding into my campfire. All very nice and cozy. And there’s s’mores of course–let’s not be foolish with our priorities. So a thank you to Priscilla–your review was a timely blessing, what I call “a God-thing”. I hope you are doing well in your new writing and literary adventures.
Writing Updates & Challenges
I’ve been writing for the past few months–novellas and short stories, along with revisiting some novels I’ve already written–science fiction, fantasy and horror, if you’re curious. I’ve shared some of these with fellow writers and a critique group, all to mostly positive feedback. But when I submit these to agents and publishers, well more fuel for my campfire. If I printed off each rejection letter, I could wallpaper the inside of my bathroom walls three times over and have some leftover to make an armada of paper boats to play with in my bathtub. There’s an idea. “We attack at dawn, soldiers! Paper cuts–hooo!”
This isn’t a pity party, of course, especially not one with a cup of hot tea drifting steam over a writer’s silhouette, who’s busily typing on an empty stage with dim lighting and “woe is me” violin music playing off stage. (Although, that’s kind of poetic ambience in a Dark Academia way.) It’s just a statement of facts. Writing I have found is a difficult thing to break into, to say the least. The kind of writing I like to do and read (literary fiction it appears) seems to be a hard sell. The “market” wants fire crackers, cheap thrills–the roman candles of ooh’s and ahh’s. These stories blast, explode and their sound is quickly forgotten. The writing catches attention, strokes a reader’s ego, and dumbs down language. Some of these books I’ve found have all the nutritional density of a Big Mac meal with fries.
I’m not saying I’m a perfect writer, or am fist bumping the Bronte sisters anytime soon at a writer’s convention –but I do aspire to be a good writer who tells meaningful, lasting stories. I try to adopt Emily’s “Tell the truth but tell it slant” approach. But I live in a society that likes 30 seconds Tik Tok videos and not 300 pages of literary prose examining the dark sides of human behavior we as a society tend to give passes to and what we need to do to help fix it. You know, the real horror of life. That stuff.
Moving Forward
So what’s a writer to do–give up? Keep going on, doing the same things and getting the same results? No–at least for me, I think the answer is somewhere inbetween. I’m taking a break from writing and submissions for the rest of 2023 with two caveats: I have one more submission I plan to do (once the agency reopens) and secondly, if I want to write (if I get clubbed over the head with inspiration or a Hogwarts owl drops a novel idea into my lap), I’ll write. I’ll be doing reflecting the rest of the year, seeking to spend more time in prayer, honing my craft and considering some different ideas I have, and overall just giving myself a break. Rejuvenation, realignment, and all those lovely synonyms.
And also–I have about a half dozen projects to finish around my house. I need to finish a few of them before I start competing with the Addams Family for “most crazy house” of the year award. Perhaps I could borrow Thing…I’ve always liked him. He could help us put our bat house up outside.
Ending Thoughts & Questions
I write this partially as a way to get it out of my head, but moreso–I know I’m not the only writer going through these things right now. My question for you is, how is your writing journey going for you? Have you found yourself experiencing similar struggles? How are you working–or not working–through those right now?
And lastly–what’s one thing you like about yourself and your writing? I’ll go first. I like my humor I put into my writing and real life–if we can’t laugh at ourselves or the world around us–we can’t expect to get too far. Like my favorite person once said “Therefore don’t worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”
Amens to that and fist bumps all around. Take care!
A.R. Clayton 