If you have no interest in writing, you might want to skip this post and go and check out Mormon influencers or chicken videos.
My friend, writing colleague and journalist extraordinaire Emma Young would have made Brené Brown proud this week. She posted on her Insta a cry for help. She posted a photo of herself, and said:
Here is me smiling bravely on the night I heard I didn't win the potentially life-changing $60,000 WA Premier's Award I was shortlisted for. And that was by no means the worst emotional hammering of the year, though it was certainly up there. In fact this year I have received four crushing professional blows, each more devastating than the last.
She then asked a series of questions about writing, from dealing with the demands of publicity, with disappointment, with how the industry is scrambling for survival, with how the f*ck you put food on the table when the effort to reward ratio is so f*cking out of kilter.*
Another Emma (Gannon) has also been reflecting on personal boundaries in book promotion in Bri Lee’s News and Reviews (as a first time memoirist, it was news that you could have some of these :)), while Bri Lee, on Emma’s Substack, pondered how to stay both hopeful and cynical.
The ‘why am I doing this’ vs ‘isn’t it amazing to be able to do this’ is a constant theme amongst writers. Traditionally published writers know how low the odds are of getting published in the first place (I won’t depress you with stats), let alone making a career out of writing. But I can tell you, as I have noted elsewhere, it can be a brutalising gig.
But.
The supportiveness of the writing community is second to none. I have had some of the best times of my life with my writing buddies. The above picture was taken at Beaufort Street Books inaugural Book Nerds Quiz, taken after the most frenetic couple of months in existence,** and the delight of hanging out with others who understand what the industry is like is hard to overstate. There is a sense of communion like no other.
I wrote my reply to Em’s post:
You have spoken how most of us feel, no matter where we are on the writing/publishing spectrum. I have recently found that understanding what it is I have been wanting from writing psychologically is really important - for me, love and acceptance and understanding. Which is why when I get rejected or ignored or disappointed it hits hard. So I’m trying to address why I’m wanting something from an industry which so often feels cold and hard. But. The community matters. The bravery of writing matters. The strength to chase a dream matters. And your post is an example of what social media is good for. Thank you, Em
I have worked in many industries in my day job career. Most people that are as passionate about their jobs as we are about writing and books are remunerated and recognised.*** The rejections also punch you in the guts in a way that is unusual in most other professions outside of the arts.
Nobody is forcing us to write. We write because we love it. Because we feel we have something to say. Because we are compelled.
And our reward is satisfaction (if we’re lucky) and community.
It could be worse.
And if you want writerly inspo, check out this interview with Annie Ernaux.
Oh, and speaking of vulnerability, my last interview on the memoir with The Starfish is here.
Thank you for reading and subscribing! And extra thanks to my paid subscribers!
*This might have been my interpretation. My year of trying to live as a writer resulted in a taxable income of $45,000 this year, which includes paid work, so it is, as they say, a live issue for me.
**In part trying to compensate for the figure above by working two jobs.
*** With the exception of those in the caring professions. Don’t get me started on that either.
Thank you again for your dose of realism!❤️🙏❤️
Great post, Julia. My book writing life has been so hard at times, but the connections I have made have been so worthwhile.