THE WRITER'S LIFE
by zentao

Hope, despair, self-loathing, ecstasy — such is the roller-coaster ride of the writer's life.

Wanna-be? Think you do, anyway? Then get used to this cycle, for that is the reality of being a fiction writer. Whether you are just starting out or whether you've made the big-time, grabbed the golden ring and nabbed the number one spot on The Best Sellers List (any or all of them), it is a fact of life.

You write. You read. You think its good. You read again. You think its crap. You tear it open, rip its guts out, put it back together with new parts, only to go back to the way it was to begin with. Your agent calls. Where's that next book? The editor is hounding him.

You cringe, because you've been stuck on Chapter Fifty-Two for three months and can't fight your way through. You stall. You find a bottle of commisseration and suck the whole thing down, wake up with a hangover, then kick yourself for being stupid.

In the end, you get the book done. In the end, it gets rave reviews. In the end, reading it sometimes thrills you, filling you with awe and ecstasy, while other times you cringe and hide your face for sheer embarassment.

Get used to it…or don't pursue it, for it is the writer's life.

© Copyright 2007 zentao

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FICTION WRITER'S RESOURCES

FWW editors critique you

AAR Literary Agents

Preditors & Editors

Ms. Snark

SlushPile.net

The Editorial Department ($2/pg) & will fix your mss

20 Worst Agencies

ONLINE FICTION

The Atlantic Monthly

The Deepening

The New Yorker