  Noticing Newbies
This week: Through Thick and Thin Edited by: THANKFUL SONALI back on Jan 4  
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Through Thick and Thin
Skin, that is.
In the real world or in an online community, writers have to be sensitive, passionate and think-skinned! |
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Writers are sensitive people.
We have to be sensitive, to write.
We have to be sensitive from the inside-out, when we recognise our deepest feelings, capture them in words and put them out there for the world to read. We have to be sensitive from the outside-in, when we see a child smile, or a dragonfly flit past and recognise the seed of a poem, story or novel.
No sensitivity, no writing. Or mediocre writing.
Writers are passionate people.
We have to be passionate, to capture ideas, organise them and present them to our readers. We have to be passionate, to put in the endless hours of work required for structuring and editing. And re-drafting and re-re-drafting. And ... and ...
No passion, no writing. Or mediocre writing.
Then, suddenly, we have to put our sensitivity aside. We have to learn to shrug off rejection slips and plough on regardless. We have to learn to smile through bad reviews.
We have to put our passion aside, when we work harmoniously with someone who is equally passionate about another idea.
So we have to be thin skinned, to write. We have to be thick skinned, to keep writing. Let's put those together and say - we have to be think-skinned.
Think-skinned.
(I just coined that and I crave applause at this point!)
We have to be skin-chameleons, changing the thickness of our skin according to the situation.
That's difficult. For some, it's almost impossible. But it has to be done.
In the real world, I see aspiring writers who hesitate to submit their manuscripts to agents or editors again after their first rejection letter. Remember, all great writers started with rejection slips. Got a rejection slip? Maybe you've taken the first step to greatness! Go over your manuscript, improve on it if necessary, and submit it to someone else!
As an advertising copywriter, I've seen and personally experienced great frustration because the client wouldn't buy a 'brilliant' idea but went for a 'mediocre' one instead. Usually the advertising world gave creative folk no time to brood on a great idea being rejected, we had to meet the deadline with a new campaign! Actually, that was good training for gritting our teeth through rejection and writing on, or visualising on. For putting sensitivity and passion into a new campaign, after our first had been deemed unworthy.
I can't resist one example. Without naming the client or the product, here's a headline I came up with for a product that was being sold at a discount for a limited time during the festive season:-
You need a big heart to give it away.
Not a big budget.
(The copy went on to say that it made a good festive gift but you'd want to keep it yourself because of all the features.)
The client rejected it.
What was published was:-
20% Off On ... .
Well. Probably the second one met the marketing objectives, but I like mine better! Nonetheless, I had to work on the copy for the second one, proofread it and get it ready for printing.
(PS: If you happen to like the second one better, tell me so gently, gently, please!  )
Online, I sometimes hear newbies saying:
"I'm going to quit writing/close my Writing Dot Com account because ...
1. ... someone visited my port and gave all the items a 2-star rating."
2. ... someone yelled at me about a review I spent ages on."
3. ... I never win any contests."
... and so on.
It's hard to tell them it doesn't matter. Because the fact is, it does matter. If we weren't sensitive and passionate about our writing, we wouldn't be here. Not for long, anyway.
What we need to do is to filter things out depending on how much they matter. Vary the thickness of our skin, so that a baseless 2-star rating doesn't matter. A helpful but critical review matters enough to urge us to take the constructive suggestions and improve our writing. The results of a contest matter enough for us to see why someone else won, gauge how much of it was because of better writing and how much was purely opinion, and give us something to aspire to. Remember, in the real world, we have to work with editors and compete with dozens, scores or even hundreds of other manuscripts. Contests could be a microcosm of the real world, helping us learn real lessons.
We must realise that our fellow writers are sensitive and passionate, too, and do unto them as we would have them do unto us.
We must realise that Writing Dot Com is open to anyone, anywhere in the world, provided they have an internet connection. There are going to be different cultures, thoughts, viewpoints, ways of expressing feelings, levels of writing, comprehension and appreciation ... different everything! That's what makes it fun, that's what makes it an adventure. That's what makes it so magical - sitting in your own home, you have access to such a variety of human interaction. There are checks and balances, there are guidelines and rules. Overall, these guidelines and rules work really well to make it a safe place for everyone.
But - such a diverse road cannot exist without some bumps, just say 'whee' as you ride over them!
The three examples I've given above (reasons for being discouraged) are all real. There are ways of reporting those who abuse the rating and review system, and malice is not tolerated. I informed the newbie who received all those 2-star ratings of this, and told her not to let the 'malicious rater' win, by quitting. Probably, someone was jealous of her and tried to sabotage her ratings, or someone just had a warped idea of 'fun'. Maybe they were being over-sensitive to a bad day they were having and had reacted negatively! She hadn't seen it that way. Till I pointed that out, her handle actually said she was considering quitting. So if you have a bad experience, decide whether to report it or not, then, don't brood on it. Shrug it off, turn it round, let it propel you forward.*
And remember - for every bad experience, you've probably had several good ones! Hold the good, let go of the bad!
Dear Newbies, being a writer is a richly rewarding experience. Being part of a writing community, real-life or online, is wonderful, blissful. You grow as a writer and as a person, make new friends, have new experiences, find a home-away-from-home with a family of fellow-writers.
If you just learn to be think-skinned.
Thanks for listening!
 - Sonali
* Read "How To Deal With Negative Comments" for more on this! |
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Uh -- I'm a 'newbie' of sorts in this case, it's my first Noticing Newbies Newsletter.
Hope you found something of use in it!
Sonali |
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Noticing Newbies: December 30, 2009 Issue [#3454]
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