Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Kate Hardy - One Thing I've Learnt


One thing I’ve Learnt…

…is to be resilient.

Being an author is just like any other job in that it has ups and downs. New contracts, awards shortlistings, glowing reviews, bestseller listings – they’re all wonderful to celebrate. But you also have to deal with changes in editor, changes in the direction of an imprint that don’t work for your voice, publishers closing and snarky reviews. And things can happen in your non-writing life that take up all your time and creative energy, affecting your work more than if you had a job in a different field.

Being resilient is what will keep you writing, meeting your deadlines and staying ready to take new opportunities.

How do you keep going through the tough times? That’s when your support group comes in. Usually fellow writers, who can understand because they’ve been there or seen it before. Friends who’ll sympathise, let you vent for just a little while, feed you chocolate, and then encourage you to overcome the obstacles and get on with it instead of letting you wallow in misery.

I’m immensely grateful for my writer friends. (You know who you are. And thank you.)

Kate Hardy

5 comments:

Michelle Styles said...

I loved your post Kate Hardy and entirely agree.

Raven McAllan said...

I so agree with you, without my crit group, and some friends in particular, there have been times when I could easily have said "enough"
Thanks to them, and to you for such a good post.

Unknown said...

Ditto to what Michelle and Raven have said...great post Kate!

lx

Kate Hardy said...

Glad it's struck a chord. (Mind you, I thought it would - I forgot to add that said support is mutual and I'm there for my friends, too!)

Donna Alward said...

You are absolutely right!

And sometimes you come out of the rough stuff stronger. :-) And smarter. Which is all good. As Michelle likes to say - it can be hell in the hallways, that's all.

:-)