Two of my law school classmates have been governors of Virginia (both right-wingers), another one was editor-in-chief of Newsweek magazine and writes books about current affairs and public figures, one founded "Games" magazine, brought Sudoku to the U.S. (curse him!), one started the E! Entertainment Network.... Bless all their hearts!
...and now the same guy is editor of the NYT crossword puzzle. I've thought up many ways to get rich and famous doing things I love... I just haven't done any of them.
Wise, healthy attitude, my friend. On a related note, one of my critique partner's debut novel comes out this week. I am genuinely excited for her and touched that she mentioned me in the acknowledgements. Our group has been meeting for four years now, and I've been along on this novel's journey since it was a vague idea. Last week, this writer got an email from a fellow member of a long disbanded (at least a decade ago) critique group. Was the other woman writing to congratulate her, or say she will do her part by telling everyone to read this book? No. This woman complained because she was not mentioned in the acknowledgements! Jan, recognizing the jealousy, took the high road and replied with a nice note thanking her for her years of friendship. Life is too short for that petty sh*t.
Wow, the expectations of others sometimes don't hit our own radars. In the end, it's your (or her) book and she can acknowledge whomever she desires. We could draw 27-point maps that lead back to someone before the someone that lead to your success, but is the ink worth it? Life may be too short for the petty shit, but long enough to "bless her heart."
I'm just learning about your substack but I'm now a subscriber. I've been toiling in the trenches for over a decade with various degrees of what others might consider book success. I don't. But it's tough to match external success with the internal realities of what it takes to succeed as an author (budgets, advertising, promotion costs, lack of interest in TikTok). At one time I had over 40 titles out there, available. Not really selling. I now am working on getting as much of that IP back as something I own as possible which has created its own dilemma.
I feel your words big time, especially as the daughter of a man who tried to succeed in regional opera at one time in his career. Oh, the competition! Oh, that jerk got that role? That was MY role! etc. and so on ad infinitum.
Thanks for this, in short. I look forward to reading more. Liz
Two of my law school classmates have been governors of Virginia (both right-wingers), another one was editor-in-chief of Newsweek magazine and writes books about current affairs and public figures, one founded "Games" magazine, brought Sudoku to the U.S. (curse him!), one started the E! Entertainment Network.... Bless all their hearts!
Oh, the things our friends and colleagues get to do... the grass is always greener on someone else's Games magazine.
...and now the same guy is editor of the NYT crossword puzzle. I've thought up many ways to get rich and famous doing things I love... I just haven't done any of them.
+++
Wise, healthy attitude, my friend. On a related note, one of my critique partner's debut novel comes out this week. I am genuinely excited for her and touched that she mentioned me in the acknowledgements. Our group has been meeting for four years now, and I've been along on this novel's journey since it was a vague idea. Last week, this writer got an email from a fellow member of a long disbanded (at least a decade ago) critique group. Was the other woman writing to congratulate her, or say she will do her part by telling everyone to read this book? No. This woman complained because she was not mentioned in the acknowledgements! Jan, recognizing the jealousy, took the high road and replied with a nice note thanking her for her years of friendship. Life is too short for that petty sh*t.
Wow, the expectations of others sometimes don't hit our own radars. In the end, it's your (or her) book and she can acknowledge whomever she desires. We could draw 27-point maps that lead back to someone before the someone that lead to your success, but is the ink worth it? Life may be too short for the petty shit, but long enough to "bless her heart."
I'm just learning about your substack but I'm now a subscriber. I've been toiling in the trenches for over a decade with various degrees of what others might consider book success. I don't. But it's tough to match external success with the internal realities of what it takes to succeed as an author (budgets, advertising, promotion costs, lack of interest in TikTok). At one time I had over 40 titles out there, available. Not really selling. I now am working on getting as much of that IP back as something I own as possible which has created its own dilemma.
I feel your words big time, especially as the daughter of a man who tried to succeed in regional opera at one time in his career. Oh, the competition! Oh, that jerk got that role? That was MY role! etc. and so on ad infinitum.
Thanks for this, in short. I look forward to reading more. Liz