Wednesday 6 June 2012

Celebrations For Writers

As we've spent the weekend celebrating the Diamond Jubilee, it made me think about writing celebrations.  In my experience, writers tend to be a self deprecating lot who are always worried about their work and tend not to celebrate their achievements.

Celebrate finishing anything however long, from a flash fiction to a novel.  Any piece of writing that is finished is worth more than the piece that languishes half done or stays in the writer's head.

Celebrate sending work out.  There's no such thing as a perfect bit of writing but it can be hard to accept that tinkering around the edges a little bit more won't make it so.  Send it out - and celebrate the achievement.

Celebrate a contact made.  Yes, we can be successful working at home and never getting involved in the writing community, but it's harder.  Networking is part of being a writer, even if it's as simple as finding a writing partner to exchange work with.

Celebrate every success you have, no matter how small or humble.  The Chinese proverb says that the journey of 10,000 steps starts with a single step - so celebrate the fact that you've just made another step.

Celebrate every bit of positive feedback you get.  Believe it or not, people generally don't say nice things 'just to be kind'; they tend to say nothing at all.  If someone says something nice, they mean it.  Celebrate it.

In fact, celebrate just about anything and everything.  There are plenty of people out there who seem to emit negative energy; be someone who looks for the brighter side and celebrate that.  Cheers!

5 comments:

Kath McGurl said...

I'm happy to raise my glass to all of the above - cheers!

And another excuse to celebrate - when a piece if rejected. Don't see it as a rejection, but as a re-marketing opportunity, which is another excuse to celebrate!

Jill Paterson said...

A great post, Sarah. I totally agree. We should celebrate more and be positive.

Tina Rodwell said...

I find it hard to keep track and focus on the weekly work I do so I now have a weekly table in a folder, a sort of weekly schedule if you like. This lists all ideas for stories and places I might send them, the chapter of the novel I’m working on to be edited or started and work sent out, work sent back to be worked on, and work accepted. By the end of my working week I have lots of filled up space and many celebrated ticks, it takes very little time to do, and is very rewarding. Might change ticks to gold stars because I’m worth it :-)

Friday evening I then sit with my glass of wine and reflect back, often very surprised with the work I have accomplished. Even an idea for a story should be celebrated!

Diane Fordham said...

Smiling at your post. Well, after a long time between short story sales I sold three today and am totally stunned and so happy. Oh yeah.. I am celebrating! :-)

Sarah Duncan said...

Womagwriter - that's a great idea. And you can think of it as statistically positive eg if you need 20 rejections to get an acceptance, every rejection takes you that step nearer.

Jill - thanks!

Tilly - Why not give yourself two gold stars, one for having the idea and the other for being organised enough to see it through? And have a third one from me for sharing such a brilliant idea with the rest of us.

Diane - wow, that's going it some. Hooray, and congratulations!