Tuesday, May 10, 2011

If you are a writer, read this

If you are feeling tired and discouraged,
If you are frustrated with how your writing is going,
If you wonder if your work will ever find an audience, or a publisher

read this



(stolen ruthlessly from Beth Revis, via Carrie Heim)

54 comments:

Unknown said...

Wow. That was brilliant. Thanks for sharing!

Now if I can just figure out where the setting is on my printer to print outside the borders of paper...

Ulysses said...

That is brilliant and beautiful. Thanks for sharing it.

Laurel said...

Gorgeous.

Sam said...

Thank you for posting that. I needed it very much.

Unknown said...

So cool! Thanks for passing it along.

Artemis Grey said...

Wow. I needed that. The world is a little brighter now. Thank you.

kriswaldherr said...

Okay, that made me tear up. *sniff*

Unknown said...

Yeah, that made my delicate artist's soul tear up a little. Thank you for sharing.

angie Brooksby-Arcangioli said...

Thanks for stealing and sharing. I loved the creature that grows showing her the path when she's ready to hear it again and again. Twenty-four years of painting haven't been futile after all.

Stephen Parrish said...

You earned your blog pay today.

Unknown said...

Absolutely fantastic.

Miranda White said...

This just made my day. :)

Scooter Carlyle said...

A much needed lift on craptastic day. Thanks.

Jeanmarie Anaya said...

That was wonderful. Got a little choked-up, I'm not gonna lie.

Lynn(e) Schmidt said...

ms. reid,
thank you for sharing this. this is literally what i'm coming into and it makes me want to bash my head into a wall.

this post has made my day. thank you, thank you, thank you.

Loree Huebner said...

Awesome! Thanks for sharing that.

Unknown said...

Neat. Thanks for sharing. Seems to sum up the life of many writers I know.

Sarah W said...

Thank you. I needed this today.

Jodi R. said...

Thanks, I - we - needed that...

Laila Knight said...

Right about the time they were flying I got goose bumps. That was awesome. Thanks.

Unknown said...

Hmm...either I have something wrong with my computer or your link has been hijacked. The link leads to something called Jellyvampire in a language I can't read (Dutch, German?). Anyone want to post the link again here in comments?

Thanks,
Rebecca

Alaina Y. Ewing said...

That is so true! Loved it... :-)

In high school a teacher told me NEVER to become a writer, so I did the exact opposite. I used to think it was personal, but now I see him as my reason for striving so hard. He pushed me out of my comfort zone, and into a world where great things are only achieved through hard work and dedication to what you seek.

What that teacher really did for me, whether it had been his intent or not, was push me to bring out my best. Showing me that I can say the sun was hot, or I can make the reader feel the sun being hot. :-)

In the end though, we are the only ones that can stop our dreams from coming true. The moment we stop believing in our dreams is the same moment they go away.

Thanks for the link1

Scheherazade said...

Nice little nugget of encouragement, but it's still an unfair world for artists and writers no matter how high you set your sights.

Jo Schaffer Layton said...

That was really cool.My husband is an amazing artist.

I try to follow my muse and love the journey-- while educating myself on what works-- quite a balance.

Not sure if publishers want anything outside of the box. (= There seems to be some pretty specific parameters in the business end of things. What sells.

Age old battle of creators vs. business people who make money off of creativity.

We can't let that become discouraging. Soar anyway. (=

Janet Reid said...

Rebecca, the blog is in German, but the art has English captions.

Lynn said...

Nice. Thanks.

Anne-Marie said...

Beautiful. Thank you. I want an anthropomorphic personification of my artistic soul. What a cutie!

Laura M. Campbell said...

That, my dear Shark, was AMAZING! My eyes got a bit glossy at the end. Thanks for the encouragement!

Taffy said...

LOVE IT! Thank you for sharing. It's nice to get a boost every few hours/days/weeks.

Suja said...

I liked it very much. especially because I'd always done what my parents told me, became what my parents wanted me to become, and as a result stayed within the box, followed the rules. Now I have this need to write and the space to write it in. Publishing something is another business, but the sheer excitement of soaring up high on your imagination and watching your words creep and race over a blank page(depending on whether your brain is mush or not) - that's what drives me.
Thanks, Ms. Reid.

Joyce Tremel said...

That was awesome. Thanks!

Kristin Laughtin said...

Thanks for this. I'm trying not to tear up on the reference desk because I know a patron will come along, but that was beautiful and I'm going to go share it with all my writer/artist friends. Well, and all my other friends, too, because it's applicable to a wide range of people.

Anonymous said...

Thank you so much, Janet, for sharing this.

Leave it to a great white shark swimming the Great White Way to lead the way. (groan)

Thanks again for your blog, your unpaid efforts and your encouragement.

Sha'el, Princess of Pixies said...

That was good for this tired and discouraged Pixie's soul. Even Bill E. feels there's hope for his writing. ... not that there is of course.

Promise from the Pixie to Janet: Pixie Warrior is supposed to go to trade paper soon. There's a copy with your name on it, assuming that there isn't another delay. I promise not to include glitter.

Michael Seese said...

I often find myself writing, not because I want to, but because I have to.

99% of the time, I'm OK with that. But when I have to at 2:00 a.m. ...

Happy scribbling!
Michael

Becky said...

I think I'm going to have to add that to my favorites so I have it in reserve for especially trying days as a writer.......so I'll visit it daily, thanks!

Indu M said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Sean Ferrell said...

That made me immensely happy.

L.L. Muir said...

...just when I'd stopped believing in muses. Thanks.

Most people don't know there is a box. When they are told there is a box, they still can't see it.

Only some of us who see it want to get out. The smart ones actaully make it to the outside.

What we do out here will define the next box...

Traci B said...

This totally blessed me, wow. Thanks for sharing it. A great reminder that it's all about perception - if we think we can't, we can't.

Kathryn Peterson said...

Thank you. A thousand times, thank you.

Write Life said...

Beautiful! Truly beautiful! It also reminded me of the responsibility we have engendering belief in young minds. Thank you for posting this!

IdaEva said...

Hi there, this is Ida Eva, creator of the comic c: Thank you very much for sharing it!

-Ida Eva Neverdahl (http://jellyvampire.deviantart.com/)

JS said...

Ida Eva, thank you so much for creating that beautiful piece! It made me cry.

And Janet, thank you for sharing it with us here.

Phil Hall said...

Janet, were you trying to make me cry this morning, or what?

That was inspirational. Awesome.

Thank you.

Carolynnwith2Ns said...

Though a piece of paper has six sides, edges, front and back, the mind of words is limitless. How blessed we are to drive a vehicle of language.
Some are better drivers than others, it takes instruction and practice. Some favor the highway, some back roads, scenery beautiful, scenery ugly…it’s about the ride. But sometimes, during special journeys, after a pit stop or a snooze by the side of the road to rest and reflect, the path becomes smooth, the view spectacular.

Ms Trite says:
Dismiss the result of tangles when it is the wind in your hair you seek.

Becky Mahoney said...

I read this yesterday and ended up bawling. Thank you for sharing it again!

Msb said...

This is one of the most beautiful pieces of inspiration I have seen in a long time. I suddenly feel so much lighter. Thank you for sharing.

Indu M said...

So precious. Thank you for sharing this, Ms Reid.

Love your blog, sharks and all.

Lynne Matson said...

Really, really cool. Thank you.

Whitehawk said...

.denrael nosseL !tsop taerG .ti devol I

Lisa said...

This is the first thing you've posted in ages that hasn't discouraged me. (I am not a salesperson: if I were good at sales I'd have a better day job.)

Paula Stokes said...

That was so beautiful it made me cry. In a good way. Thank you so much for ruthlessly stealing and reposting.

There is so much ill will and cruelty being spread over the internet. Thank you for the reminder of what we should be doing with the magnificent tool Al Gore created for us :)

Merry Monteleone said...

I just shared that with my 13 year old rocker chick... she loved it, too. Thanks!