Continuing the advice for writers theme, here are two quotes
that I believe come from the writers’ own experience more than any desire to
generate clever soundbites.
No one can challenge the success of either Harper
Lee or JK Rowling, but is their advice generally applicable and useful beyond
their own writing lives?
“Be ruthless about protecting writing days, i.e. do not cave
in to endless requests to have ‘essential’ and ‘long overdue’ meetings on those
days” (J K Rowling)
Many people will relate to this one, not just writers. Anyone
who works from home will recognise this issue. People ring for a chat, call
round to see if you’ll go out shopping, bring children or dogs to your doorstep
so you can, ‘Just keep an eye on them for half an hour.’ They wouldn’t do it if
you worked from an office or in a factory, but that home context gets labelled
as not *really* work, not *proper* work.
Saying no isn’t the issue. The fact of
the interruption can be hugely disruptive in itself. It might not be meetings,
essential, overdue or otherwise, but yes, JK Rowling hits on a good point here.
A writing day is not the same as a day off. Don’t let anyone persuade you
otherwise.
“I would advise anyone who aspires to a writing career that
before developing his talent he would be wise to develop a thick hide” (Harper
Lee)
I see this one as more personal to Harper Lee and less applicable
generally. Very few writers will be catapulted into stellar success and the
public eye as quickly or as comprehensively as Harper Lee. Likewise the
majority of writers will not have to put up with the levels of scepticism that
she did with regard to whether or not she was the author of her own book.
The generalisation, in my view, is that those who take up a
career in writing will find that they develop a thick hide. The more successful
they become, the more people will read and comment on their work and not
everyone will like it. Attitudes are subjective, the written word generates argument and debate - and so it should, it's a large part of how progress happens. That said, I wouldn’t
advise anyone to work on the thickness of their hide before embarking on their
career as a writer, but it’s as well to be aware that success will bring criticism.
My own view: a book that is universally un-hated stirs so
few emotions that it is more accurately described as universally unnoticed. A book
that is universally loved doesn’t exist.
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