You Have Achieved Great Things

October 18, 2024 by Harvey

In today’s Journal

* You Have Achieved Great Things
* Of Interest
* The Numbers

You Have Achieved Great Things

So is this an inspirational message or a butt-chewing? That depends strictly on your perception. I have my own opinion, but I’m only the writer. Whatever it is, it’s a long one, so settle in.

I’m one of those annoying people. I’m one of those who, if I’ve done a thing before, I know I can do it again. Shrug. Call me crazy. And thanks to Jim G for reminding me of this yesterday. And thanks to other writers for providing me with the examples I’ll use below.

Unless you’ve since developed a physical or mental disability, once you’ve accomplished something, you can definitely do it again.

And somewhere deep inside, you KNOW you can. If you can’t, you wouldn’t have achieved what you achieved in the first place. Yet every one of you have.

If you’ve ever made up a story on the spot, orally as a young child or later in writing, you can do it again. To think you can’t is ludicrous.

That realization alone should rudely shove any remnants of “I can’t” aside. That leaves you only with your level of desire to write.

And if you think you’ve never achieved anything, I’m here to tell you you’re wrong.

If you were (or are) “just” a cop, even if you were fortunate enough to never have to pull your weapon or break up a bar fight or even help a little old person change a flat tire, think of all the lives you’ve touched:

• would be burglars who decided that wasn’t a good idea just because they saw your car in the neighborhood, or

• late-night clerks at convenience stores who felt safer just seeing you drive by, or

• all the good citizens who slept calmly in their beds each night because they knew you were out there.

If you’re a work-a-day mechanic or plumber or carpenter or artist or HVAC or telecomm guy, same thing. Think of how many people for whom you’ve enabled a safe automobile trip, or comfort and convenience at the sink or in the john, or sheer beauty, or relief from the heat or cold, or entertainment or internet access.

Whatever else you do, you have achieved great things.

Yet when you set out to do something as simple and meaningless as writing a short story, you freeze up when you face the as-yet blank page.

This first example of this paradox struck me several years ago when I enountered a man who was a high-ranking retired Navy vet and a would-be fiction writer.

After he left the Navy, he attended college and didn’t stop until he’d attained a master’s degree in business administration. (Think of the discipline, the missed parties, and all the papers.)

Then he went on to start a business: a stand-alone store that sold carpeting and various kinds of wood and artificial flooring for both homes and businesses. When he was finally ready to retire, he sold the store for multiple millions of dollars. Just look at all he had achieved.

Yet the thought of writing even “Once upon a time” intimidated the snot out of him.

I also know a brilliant young woman who studied structural engineering in college. She went on to have a successful career. Even after she retired, the entity from which she retired kept her on the books as a paid consultant.

I happily and bluntly used that information against her to help her overcome her fear (critical mind) of Just Writing her characters’ stories. Today she’s still an engineering consultant, but she’s also a brilliant novelist. She’s written some of the best, most entertaining novels I’ve ever read.

I’ve also had the humble pleasure of passing-on the freedom of writing into the dark to a former very successful ad executive, several retired members of the US military (including one who’s currently a full professor at a major university), and several now-writers who came to something as silly as writing fiction from other successful fields of endeavor.

Those are not my achievements. Those are achievements of writers who finally believed in themselves.

Of course, I have my own past and my own accomplishments. And even this far along in my career as a writer, my critical mind pops up now and then to try to stop me from writing.

When it does, I laugh it off and say, sometimes aloud, “Look, I’ve done this and this and this successfully. Do you seriously think I’m gonna be intimidated by writing a fictional story that I’ll actually enjoy writing? Don’t be ridiculous!”

Whereupon the critical mind goes limping and whimpering back to the corner of my mind.

So this is just a friendly reminder: You can do exactly the same thing.

I know this next part is probably gonna get me some hate mail, but whatever. Sticks and stones, am I right?

You ladies, and in particular you ladies who have given birth, check this out:

Singlehandedly—or for all I know, working hand in hand with your version of God him/herself—you’ve actually Created a Living Human Being!

(Yeah, I hear the grumbling among a few men out there. I suggest you stop taking yourselves so seriously. After all, no matter what the societal BS du jour, our primary biological roles are to supply the lady with half the ingredients and then do our best to keep her and our progeny safe and in the black with food, water, and shelter. We will never be more important than that.)

So ladies, seriously, is putting new words on the page really all that significant or difficult after you’ve actually created a new life? Not to even mention all the other stuff you’ve done. I am personally in awe of you right out the gate.

So my point for everyone?

Maybe put writing fiction in the perspective it actually deserves.

No short story, novella, or novel is “important.” Any story matters far less and is far easier to accomplish than all the other achievements you’ve accomplished.

Yes, creating a new fiction feels good and it’s entertaining at least to you. If you’re very fortunate, it will even entertain some readers for a few minutes (short story) or a few hours (novel). But that’s it.

It’s still only a story. No matter how much emphasis you put on it or how much money you lay out for brie and wine for your “book launch,” your fiction will never be anything more significant than a few minutes’ or hours’ entertainment for a few readers.

If that offends you, get over yourself. That’s all Hemingway’s or Shakespeare’s or King’s work is too: a few minutes’ or hours’ entertainment, one reader at a time.

And if you’re one of those who wants to say “Ooh, but that’s Hemingway or Shakespeare or King, not me!” go ahead.

Then maybe remember there was a time when little Ernie, Willie, and Stephen didn’t yet even know they could use two longer lines crossed with a shorter one to form a capital letter A.

They were exactly like you. They had to learn.

And at one point or another, they were filled with self-doubt and “I can’t.”

In the end, a story of any length is just not a big deal. It’s “worth” only what it’s worth to the reader in his or her personal situation at the time.

Then it’s gone and largely forgotten, and any readers who enjoyed it are looking for your next work.

Your job isn’t to judge your own work or even your own abilities.

Judging those is the reader’s job. Where your fiction is concerned, your opinion is still only one opinion among millions.

As my buddy Joseph “Joey Bones” Salerno might say, “Hey! You wanna be a fiction writer? Then your only job is to keep the freakin’ short stories, novellas and novels comin’, a’right? So get on with it a’ready.”

Talk with you again soon.

Of Interest

27 Book Publishing Companies For Authors Without Agents In light of Vin’s video yesterday, I thought this was appropriate.

Workshop 50% Off Sale Ends Monday

The Numbers

The Journal……………………………… 1370

Writing of “A Hot Slice to Go”
Brought forward from BO-29…… 3260

Day 1…… 1410 words. To date…… 4670 (done)

Writing of Blackwell Ops 29: John Quick

Day 1…… 1781 words. To date…… 1781
Day 2…… 3792 words. To date……. 5573
Day 3…… 3087 words. To date……. 8660
Day 4…… 3545 words. To date……. 12205
Day 5…… 2667 words. To date……. 14872
Day 6…… 1665 words. To date……. 16537
Day 7…… 3073 words. To date……. 19610
Day 8…… 5593 words. To date……. 25203
Day 9…… 1963 words. To date……. 27166

Fiction for October……………………. 57240
Fiction for 2024……………………….. 798748
Nonfiction for October……………….. 18990
Nonfiction for 2024……………………. 322580
2024 consumable words……………… 945367

Average Fiction WPD (October)……… 3367

2024 Novels to Date……………………….. 14
2024 Novellas to Date……………………… 1
2024 Short Stories to Date………………… 18
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)…………..……. 96
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)………………. 10
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)………..… 255
Short story collections…………………….….. 29

Disclaimer: Whatever you believe, unreasoning fear and the myths that outlining, revising, and rewriting will make your work better are lies. They will always slow your progress as a writer or stop you cold. I will never teach the myths on this blog.

On this blog I teach Writing Into the Dark and adherence to Heinlein’s Rules. Because of WITD and because I endeavor to follow those Rules I am a prolific professional fiction writer. You can be too.

If you are able, please support TNDJ with a paid subscription. Thank you!