Wednesday 24 October 2007

Do Successes Demotivate?

Well, I know all writers are different. But this writer has been sent into a compelete tailspin by a few successes this year.

Far from being motivating and spurring me on to do more, I an stressed, unable to concentrate, and fearful of ever being able to 'do it again'.

It was wonderful, therefore, to read on Emma Darwin's blog today about a discussion around this very thing. And even more wonderful to read that Emma herself experienced something similar after the runaway success of her novel Mathematics of Love.

LINK HERE to Emma's post, which also contains a link to the discussion. Well worth a read, if you are like me. It made me feel less like a freak.

2 comments:

Ossian said...

There are a number of famous cases in literature of authors who seemed to wilt after a success, and the bigger the success the more spectacularly: Harper Lee after To Kill a Mockingbird, J. D. Salinger after The Catcher in the Rye, and F. Scott Fitzgerald as well.

Vanessa Gebbie said...

Hello Os

Good company then?

Oh lord. That Mimi will be down on us like a ton of manure, telling us off for drawing parallels with the greats.

Its OK Mimi... its only a little bit of the creative anxt, I'm sure.


well... all I can say is, if I'm like this after a couple of short story comp placings, God help me if I ever write a blockbuster novel.

(ha!)