The Perturbed Publicist, Fourth and Final: “What are we here for anyway?”

For the past three weeks, I’ve covered a number of the business aspects of publishing. There are many, many things that you’ve got to do to survive in this industry, and I’ve seen the writer’s frustration that comes along with keeping your head above water. There’s an inherent danger in the publicity game, though—so many authors start working so hard on their own publicity that they forget about what it is they were made to do in the first place.

Uh…write.

Remember? The thing you love? The thing you were born for? The thing that got you into this cutthroat industry in the first place? Writing. I’ve been writing in one form or another since I was in the seventh grade. Granted, at the time, it was terrible stuff, but I thought it was the coolest thing in the world. I wrote in high school; it got better. I wrote in college; it got much better. I’ve been writing as a so-called “adult” ever since graduation four years ago, and I continue to grow, day by day. Practice makes perfect. Patience makes perfect, too—patience in yourself and patience in this industry.

I’ve had clients try to give up. They’ve been writing for years, and they have yet to make it on Oprah. They threaten to go back to the office job. They say things like, “Maybe writing isn’t for me. Maybe I just can’t do this anymore.” I want to smack these people, because I know a decision like this will haunt them someday. Writers are made to be writers, and you can’t escape that, no matter how frustrated you become and no matter how many rejection letters you receive. I’m sorry, but it’s true. Fight it all you want, but you are a writer. You will always be a writer, so save me the sob story and just admit it. What do I do to fight the writing blues? Let me give you a glimpse into Sara Dobie, Writer, instead of simply Sara Dobie, Publicist….

Watch Wonder Boys. I realize Wonder Boys was originally a book by the ever-eccentric Michael Chabon. I realize it’s quite a good book, in fact. However, it’s the movie that gets me in the writing mood. It’s the story of Professor Grady Tripp—a once successful author who hasn’t had a new book in seven years. He’s writing, though. It’s a book he can’t finish, and it takes a catastrophe of comic proportions to get him back on the right track. This film makes me want to write because it reminds me why we write. We write because, in Grady’s words, we just can’t stop. I dare you to try and make it through this entire film without picking up a pen and paper. I dare you to stay away from your computer for a full twenty minutes after the final credits have rolled. Whenever you feel frustrated and bored with your art, watch this film, and feel the invigoration of words waiting to be put on the page.

Study On Writing, by Stephen King. “Writing is not life, but it can sometimes bring you back to life,” says the brutally honest King in his study of the storytelling craft. Speaking from personal experience, I could not agree more. King wrote this memoir of sorts after being hit by a van—an accident that almost took his life and put the serious stuff in perspective. There is technical advice in this semi-autobiography, but it sometimes reads more like a love letter than an academic manual. To whom is the letter addressed? Why to WRITING, of course. On Writing will take you a bit longer than the two hours it takes to watch a film, but it’s time well spent. It’s like bringing out the big guns, when you’re horribly blocked or just horribly irritated with the last chapter of your new novel. I own a copy because of the notes I took, and it’s safe to say that most writers should. (Your library won’t appreciate you bleeding red ink on their property.) Plus, you may need to go back to the book often. If you’re a writer, there will always be the threat of a block. There will always be irritation, so why not keep your big guns around for the really rough days?

Read something awful. This is the meanest of my three go-to fix-alls for bad writing days, but I tell you, it works wonders. Read something terrible. I have some favorites, but I feel like this may be more personal. For instance, if I really want to get myself riled up about the state of literature, I’ll skim The Da Vinci Code. The short chapters and constant cliffhangers make me giggle, and they also make me want to do a better job than good old best-selling Brown boy. It makes me want to sit down and write a book that will blow his out of the water—not in sales, but in quality. A book I write will never beat his numbers, but I can blow him out of the water in craft. Suggestions for you? Check out bad blogs—there are plenty of them nowadays, owned and operated by bad writers who think they’re good. Another personal favorite? Go to ESPN.com and read the message boards. I have never seen such atrocious grammar or sentence structure in my life, and it’ll make you want to be the next Proust with the 3200-page Remembrance of Things Past. Writer’s block? What writer’s block?

With that, I leave you to it. Be your own publicist, but first and foremost, please be your own writer. We’re in this industry because we love it. We’re writers because we love it. It’s frustrating, it’s hard, and it’s what we do. It’s what we will always do, because you can’t run from your passion—it will catch up with you eventually.

Posted by: Sara Dobie