On the eve of her first novel being published a debut writer wrote
me last night and said she was excited, nervous, scared and asked how does one
stop worrying that the book won’t do well.
Dear D.,
You can’t stop worrying. That seems to be part of a writer’s lot. It
has to do with how much control we have over the book before it gets published.
We have all the control. We
create the characters, move them
around on the chessboard, decide their fate. And then we turn our creations
over to other people and give up all our control.
But here are some things I try to do.
Live in the moment and enjoy every step.
Manage expectations. It would be great to be a bestseller with your first book (or any book for that matter) and have the book make you rich and famous and happy and buy you a Porsche . But that’s a lottery win. And it happens infrequently.
If what you want is to
have a writing life, then what you need is for the book to do well enough to
keep you in the game. And that’s what you have to focus on.
I think our jobs as writers is to keep writing
the best books we can until we write the right book at the right time—the one
the publisher can get behind and give that magic push to.
For some of us that will be our first novel; for
others, our 10th; and some of us will never get it—not for lack of trying or
talent, but rather, because our timing just doesn't sync up.
I don't think we should compare ourselves to each
other. That's just inviting madness. Who gets the push is all too often not
about talent at all but rather the fit of the book and the market and what the
stores say they want and the fads and foibles of the day.
So good luck, enjoy seeing your lovely book on the shelf and may the gods of book sales be
looking our for you.
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