Poet Jorge Luis Borges once wrote,
"It’s possible that the fact that literature has been commercialized now
in a way it never was before has had an influence. That is, the fact
that people now talk about “bestsellers,” that fashion has an influence
(something that didn’t use to happen). I remember that when I began to
write, we never thought about the success or failure of a book. What’s
called “success” now didn’t exist at that time. And what’s called
“failure” was taken for granted. One wrote for oneself and, maybe, as
Stevenson used to say, for a small group of friends. On the other hand,
one now thinks of sales. I know there are writers who publicly announce
they’ve had their fifth, sixth, or seventh edition released and that
they’ve earned such and such an amount of money. All that would have
appeared totally ridiculous when I was a young man; it would have
appeared incredible. People would have thought that a writer who talks
about what he earns on his books is implying: “I know what I write is
bad but I do it for financial reasons or because I have to support my
family.” So I view that attitude almost as a form of modesty. Or of
plain foolishness."
As I'm preparing to publish my first two works, Rienspel and The Grey Isle Tale, I've been furiously studying other authors' suggestion on the process. But something kept bugging me the whole time... see, I'm not writing to get rich (Sure, it would be nice...) - but because I simply love what I write, and write what I love. Trying to figure out the whole process has been a bit intimidating, sure. I don't really feel like I have the zillions of dollars to simply bankroll my way through hiring an agent - and I don't really think I have any notable connections with the publishing world, either. I'm not exactly a household name, nor do I have anything remarkable to really contribute to the twittersphere, either.
But that's ok. Perfectly ok, actually. I am writing what I love. I hope if you read what I write, you enjoy it too. That's it. That's all I'm going for here. CS Lewis also said something encouraging about originality, which helped keep me going too:
"Even in literature and art, no man who bothers about originality will
ever be original: whereas if you simply try to tell the truth (without
caring twopence how often is has been told before) you will, nine times
out of ten, become original without ever having noticed in."
So if you're a writer- write. If you're a singer- sing. If you're a gamer- game. And leave all thought of public opinion and propriety in the dust where they belong.
-Ryan
