You have articulated everything I have been thinking and feeling during the writing of my book this past 4 years. But as I’ve got closer to thinking it might be finished I have been getting gradually sucked into the endless selling of courses and workshops of ‘How to Pitch, ‘ The perfect query letter’ and on ad nauseum. This piece has reminded me of the pleasure I have had in just writing because I had to and am lucky enough to be able to. So thank you.
The game is what killed my love of writing for a while. I’m no longer willing to sacrifice my writing on the altar of the game. You said it so well. We shouldn’t be fighting over scraps. There’s enough for us all! So well said!
Amy! I wrote 10 books of poetry. 9 self published, 1 traditionally published through a small univerity press. They are all like tattslotto tickets loaded in our favour. Most do well inside the sparkle bubble of the artificial ecosystem of follower counts, numbers and awards creating FOMO. Then die a natural death, usually a year later. Occasssionally a book won't need this ecosystem and will survive on its own beyond 12 months. Old fashion viral. But it's hard to tell until it's out of the superstorm of that ecosystem - if it will truly keep itself alive, grow from a teenager into an adult. One of my 10 books grew its own sails very recently without my help to survive in the wild, outside the bubble, it's still too early to tell, but it looks like it. People who don't follow me passing it around unlike any of my other 9 'attempts'. Of course I'm happy with all my books, and of course the reward is in the creating. But it's nice to see one tap something else. I'm gonna wager your new book will do the same, only a whole lot faster with the big gust of wind from a bestseller list. A single atomic critical mass blow! :)
Yes yes yes! Fuck yes! My fav line - and all of this so rocks and resonates - is, “My Game is: promote this book with my whole heart because it fucking slaps.” Yes! Thank you for speaking to all of this so fucking passionately. My debut novel is coming out in less than six months and I am letting my passion and excitement and vision be my fuel and guide: not someone else’s standards of what constitute success and what I should do. And your article just contributed more fuel to my journey so thank you!
Amie, thanks for naming the true artists’ path in all of its BRAVE & EXCITING steps (for the art sharing part, after the art making ;). Will be adding your book to preorders. 💛
Thank you so much Amy for this wonderful piece of writing filled with so much great advice and inspirations for us as writers! One of the things that peeves me in writing poetry is the silly rule by 99% of magazines, literary societies and reviews; that your piece being submitted must not have appeared anywhere else publicly and not even self-published or posted to your own personal social media accounts!!
How else will people become familiar with our work unless we self-post some of our best pieces?
I see nothing wrong with putting ourselves 'out there' though the publishers seem to want the works for themselves as though we're going to make them hit it bigger by being that secret or truly special Nobel Laureate quality candidate they want to drop on the world! It is ridiculous! Not all poets and authors had their works published by big publishing houses out the gate. Most were from small local or specialized publishers, and nowadays self-published before being 'picked up' once they started getting noticed. We are being told as creators what THEY want us to do and how to do it and its high time we stand up to this together and tell THEM how we'd like our works to be handled.
You have articulated everything I have been thinking and feeling during the writing of my book this past 4 years. But as I’ve got closer to thinking it might be finished I have been getting gradually sucked into the endless selling of courses and workshops of ‘How to Pitch, ‘ The perfect query letter’ and on ad nauseum. This piece has reminded me of the pleasure I have had in just writing because I had to and am lucky enough to be able to. So thank you.
The game is what killed my love of writing for a while. I’m no longer willing to sacrifice my writing on the altar of the game. You said it so well. We shouldn’t be fighting over scraps. There’s enough for us all! So well said!
Amy! I wrote 10 books of poetry. 9 self published, 1 traditionally published through a small univerity press. They are all like tattslotto tickets loaded in our favour. Most do well inside the sparkle bubble of the artificial ecosystem of follower counts, numbers and awards creating FOMO. Then die a natural death, usually a year later. Occasssionally a book won't need this ecosystem and will survive on its own beyond 12 months. Old fashion viral. But it's hard to tell until it's out of the superstorm of that ecosystem - if it will truly keep itself alive, grow from a teenager into an adult. One of my 10 books grew its own sails very recently without my help to survive in the wild, outside the bubble, it's still too early to tell, but it looks like it. People who don't follow me passing it around unlike any of my other 9 'attempts'. Of course I'm happy with all my books, and of course the reward is in the creating. But it's nice to see one tap something else. I'm gonna wager your new book will do the same, only a whole lot faster with the big gust of wind from a bestseller list. A single atomic critical mass blow! :)
Love this treastise on defining your own success! Rock on Sister!
It’s been a pleasure to watch you grow while helping us grow alongside you
We don’t have to measure our worth—or our art—by someone else’s yardstick.
Yes, yes x 1000!
Yes yes yes! Fuck yes! My fav line - and all of this so rocks and resonates - is, “My Game is: promote this book with my whole heart because it fucking slaps.” Yes! Thank you for speaking to all of this so fucking passionately. My debut novel is coming out in less than six months and I am letting my passion and excitement and vision be my fuel and guide: not someone else’s standards of what constitute success and what I should do. And your article just contributed more fuel to my journey so thank you!
This is so perfect, thank you, as always, for sharing!
Amie, thanks for naming the true artists’ path in all of its BRAVE & EXCITING steps (for the art sharing part, after the art making ;). Will be adding your book to preorders. 💛
I absolutely love this! ❤️ Well said. 💪
I knew this piece was going to be one of the best works I’ve ever read when I came across the line:
“But it isn’t the game I’m playing.”
What a beautiful depiction and breakdown of what “the game” actually is, and staying true to playing your own. I resonate with this wholeheartedly.
Thank you for sharing with us 🙏🏽
Thank you so much Amy for this wonderful piece of writing filled with so much great advice and inspirations for us as writers! One of the things that peeves me in writing poetry is the silly rule by 99% of magazines, literary societies and reviews; that your piece being submitted must not have appeared anywhere else publicly and not even self-published or posted to your own personal social media accounts!!
How else will people become familiar with our work unless we self-post some of our best pieces?
I see nothing wrong with putting ourselves 'out there' though the publishers seem to want the works for themselves as though we're going to make them hit it bigger by being that secret or truly special Nobel Laureate quality candidate they want to drop on the world! It is ridiculous! Not all poets and authors had their works published by big publishing houses out the gate. Most were from small local or specialized publishers, and nowadays self-published before being 'picked up' once they started getting noticed. We are being told as creators what THEY want us to do and how to do it and its high time we stand up to this together and tell THEM how we'd like our works to be handled.
Thank you so much. With this post, you are officially on my book-writing support team. 🙏🏼
Great read! Thank you for this perspective. It’s similar to mine, so it’s affirming to hear from other creatives.
More voice notes here please!!! I love them so much!