Book Review

So, I've been reading a book called The Writer's Book of Hope. It's a mix between a feel good book and a smack in the face, "Just get over if you big wimp."

So far I've really enjoyed this book, and it's been a useful book for me as a writer. One of the biggest concerns I've had in writing recently is some crushing defeatism about how I'll never make it. A lot of negative feelings come from writing, rejection, and soul bearing. My most recent novel was, I thought, complete. I felt very strongly emotional ties to the events and the characters in certain scenes, and overall it was a very fulfilling story. (On a side note, the idea of story is subtly different than plot and it surpasses, in my opinion, any other aspect of writing that makes a book sell. Interesting characters, sharp dialogue, meaningful theme, great descriptions, poetic words, engaging plot, all of these capture certain niches in the reader market, but if a story is strong enough it will pull us through failures in any of those. I'm don't know if I can back this up rhetorically yet, and I think that this is what I meant when talking about plot a few posts back, but I am convinced that a strong story is what most people who read fiction are looking for. I've got a lot of exploring to do as a writer before I can pinpoint what a story is exactly, but it's something that surpasses any of the individual technical elements that we usually associate with writing. More on that another time.)

So I was pretty happy with my novel, and then it was torn apart. My writing group chewed it up and spit it out. The general idea from one of my readers was that the book was so flawed internally that I wouldn't be able to fix it immediately and I needed to move on to another book (at least for now). They might be right. That's neither here nor there, except that it really put me into a downward spiral as far as my writing goes.

This book, The Writer's Book of Hope, presents the idea of writing so clearly as a real process that I find myself ready to approach the proverbial saddle with real intent of "getting back in". The basic idea of this self help book is that, writing is hard. Writing takes energy, time, and often rips the creator through various emotions without pride or pity. Writers are often equal part excited and terrified about their own work. But the successful writers keep writing. There's not a lot of incentive to keep a writer moving forward. There are dreams of success (like J.K. Rowling enjoyed), the joy of actually writing (when it is joyful), and the vague idea that someone might like your work. But these are all fleeting and often wrought with the equally powerful knowledge that J.K. Rowling's success is not the norm, the agony of starting to write, and the knowledge that no matter how good your work is it will always fail is some way.

Success is much more often achieved by those who have the tenacity to practice rather than those who have some innate natural ability. It's true in sports. It's true in business. It's true in music. It's true in love. And it's true in writing.

The Writer's Book of Hope, written by Ralph Keyes, basically says, "Just keep writing." It doesn't talk about specific writing techniques (which can be helpful), but focuses on, well....Hope. Keeping yourself motivated as a writer to keep writing, especially when it's hard. Because writing is hard work. Writing well is agony. But we know that it is possible, because people do it. But people rarely focus on the agony of the process (Apparently Rowling drew on her agony to create dementors).

The Writer's Book of Hope might not be a book for everyone. But it has definitely helped me. It's not sappy and full of saccharine promises of glory and fame. It's a hard look at what I've been living, and the hope that I needed (and ostensibly many writers need) to just keep writing.

So, just keep writing. It's sure not easy. But we can do it, you and me. We'll get there. Hopefully sooner than later, but either way we'll get there. We won't destroy our lives in the process, but we'll keep pushing even when it feels like there's no point. Because in the end, isn't that the point? To do something that we thought we couldn't.

See you there.