26
Apr

V is for Valued

   Posted by: Faith   in Rye Thoughts

Add Comment

Writing isn’t a very good profession to get into if you’re looking for affirmation of any kind.

Honestly. A-ZApril

You can’t do this so that you’ll feel valued, or to get revenge on the people who told you that you’d never succeed, or to show up old bullies, or to get acceptance from your parents/teachers/friends, or to find fame and fortune.

But that’s okay.

Writers simply need to find value elsewhere.

  • …in the creative comments of others.
  • …in the appreciation of your critique partner(s), who values your writing enough to spend time on it and help you improve.
  • …in the personal satisfaction gained from a job well done.

We might not get valued the way others do in their professions, but that’s not a bad thing! I think it forces us to seek outside the traditional indicators of ‘success’, and encourages us to place a higher value on the things that really matter in the long run:

  • friendship/relationships
  • personal growth
  • self-esteem
  • hard work & improved work ethic

Where do you find value in your writing life?  Do you want to feel valued by others, or are you learning to be content with knowing you’re doing your best?

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 26th, 2011 at 4:45 pm and is filed under Rye Thoughts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

3 comments so far

Book Dilettante
 1 

Everyone likes to be read – their poetry, prose, a blog post, whatever… and I love to share my love of books!

April 28th, 2011 at 7:54 pm
Faith King
 2 

I’m not as prolific a writer as most of my writer friends. It bothered me for a while– I felt like I wasn’t *really* a writer or there was some kind of unspoken productivity competition going on. I eventually got over it when I realized that I valued the mere fact that I had finished an original piece of fiction, which is pretty darn special, no matter what happens next.

Beyond that, I find value in the thrill of those little moments when you write that one sentence, that one scene, that one exchange of dialogue that’s just PERFECT and you know in your head and your heart that no editor or beta reader will ever tell you to change it because the stars have aligned and your idea and your characters and your MOMENT have all finally come together.

It’s usually pretty hard to get me down on the rare days when that sort of writing miracle happens. :-)

April 28th, 2011 at 10:21 pm
Susan
 3 

Anymore, I find personal value when I write something I think is really great. Of course, it is validating to get published. But that has been so few and far between for me. I have found writing to provide personal satisfaction first. If others find joy in it, then even better.

April 29th, 2011 at 3:50 pm

Leave a reply

Name (*)
Mail (will not be published) (*)
URI
Comment
Back to top