by Chris McMahon
I’ve been thinking about what motivates me to write lately. Generally that positive forward force comes from the story itself and the feeling of absorption that I get from being inside the story. Writing absorbs me like nothing else.
Over and above this, I often have a kind ‘saw-tooth’ pattern of ups and downs. This is characterised by periods of excitement, followed by troughs of emotional ‘low’. Here is the rub – this is usually directly related to what manuscripts I have waiting around the ridges sitting on editor’s desks.
While I have something out there, and I am waiting hopefully for a reply, I am propelled forward by that expectation. Call me crazy – I mean I should have realised by now the chances are virtually nill in each case – but it still pushes me on. And I am cruising away on the crest of that wave, tapping the keyboard with a smile on my face.
Then comes the crash. I might get a Dear John email or a letter, then I dive. Sometimes this is delayed as I (typically) refuse to recognise my feelings on the matter. Either way the low inevitably comes along.
There is no doubting the forward impetus it gives me to be waiting for some news to come back, but I have been seriously thinking about whether this is worth the crash.
Not that I am talking about not sending stuff out – that would be crazy. The key issue, I have realised, is how much you invest in the outcome. All that hope focussed on the editorial saviour to lift you out of pre-publication blues.
I was wondering if I could engage in some sort of motivational double-think – where you use submissions as motivating goals, yet somehow not actually invest in the outcome itself. It’s a tough one – even harder when you need to eat! But it’s worth trying to pull off. Instead you could invest in yourself – in what you are doing, or in the work itself.
How do you deal with the boom and bust cycle of motivation?
PS: Apologies for last week – I forgot to mention I was out of email contact. Camping was great though:)
Mad Genius Club 
13 responses to “Motivational Double-Think”
Detachment! Do everything you conceivably can to achieve the desired outcome… then detach. It’s now completely out of your control – you’ve done everything. It will come to you if it’s meant to be. Good luck Chris!
Thea Pobjoy
Thanks, Thea. Enjoy your boat trip! I hope the weather is good – should be the perfect time of the year on the coast at the moment. Hey are you taking your sheep:)
Hi Chris, the sheep went back this flock. Just a dog and a pig now and both love boating and fishing!! True!
Or look further ahead. How many publishers do you send out to before you give up? Now you have the option of epublication, a whole different world. Every rejection brings you closer to finding out all about it by doing it.
Mind you, it also involves a lot of beating your head against the wall, speaking from my own halfway there status.
Try for a different sort of anticipation, ratcheting up with every rejection, instead of depression.
Hi, Pam. I can certainly see that. I have tried that approach, and have succeeded in doing so mentally – my emotional landscape is a totally different kettle of fish however. I do need to get more things out there – and do it intelligently – I am crap at that. However I think I do need to practice that sort of double-think – just focus on the work itself – kind of like putting on one enormous pair of blinkers.
Hey, how is your work going?
Hard to say. I’ve broken down and ordered a Kindle, so I can see if my conversions are all right, and read up on basic HTML, so I can clean up files . . . And registered a DBA. Iron Ax Press will e-pub it’s first Real Soon Now. A title that my agent rather politely admited that he’d run out of publishers to push it at.
Grr, I suppose I’ll need a webpage or two real soon as well . . . This is more complicated than I’d realized.
However, I have so many novels, novellas and short stories in this universe, all stacked up in my “first draft done, I’ll go back and polish when the first of the series sells” pile, that I can epub one every other month and still be going strong in two years.
Hey Chris,
I’m with you, getting rejected sucks. I call it the fish slapping dance (ie Monty Python). For some reason the image of a guy getting slapped in the face with a dead fish always comes to mind when I get a rejection. If you recall from the skit, eventually one of the guys falls off the pier and into the sea. My aim is not to be that guy.
Detachment? Well you have to be cold, you have to be super professional. How do you infuse your writing with the emotion it needs to kick someone in the privates without putting a lot of yourself in there. Then, when the story is rejected, that bit of you is still in there. That bit of YOU is rejected.
On the other hand, it kinda depends on the type of rejection. If it’s clear I haven’t made it past the work experience kid, I still get annoyed. If I get editors notes, I figure I’ve come out even 🙂
HI, Stephen. The fish slapping dance! I love it. The whole experience kind of leaves you smelling like that as well:) I’ll reach for my towel now . . .
You are spot on about the work – that’s why those rejections slip in under the guard so easily. They burn right in across the powder-trail of your own emotional investment.
The rejections that really get to me are the ones from the upper editors when it is obvious they are just fobbing you off with a comment that reflects little understanding of your work – like they don’t know why they don’t like it and pick something of the rotating carousel of rejections. Even worse when that random pick attacks something you consider you have done well.
You are also right about the professional approach. It really is just business. I need to drum that into myself somehow. Publishers are first and foremost business analysts.
Maxim to live by: Don’t let a–h–s rule your mental state.
One of my first readers is amazed that I don’t get depressed at bad reviews. But it’s like this: if it’s a valid criticism, it’s a contribution toward my learning; if it’s just “I hate this!” when the critic has clearly failed to understand something, you’re dealing with the north side of a southbound equine — and the only real consideration is not getting it on your shoes.
Regards,
Ric
Hi, Ric. I do get annoyed with bad reviews, but only when they have missed the point. Mostly I am just glad someone has taken the time to read and think about my work.
I often find critique hard to take at first, but I really enjoy being challenged and love the feeling of improving my own work, so it definately ends up in the positive.
You’ve got me going there though – what are the missing letters of your maxim?
The first two are a pair of “S”es. You can probably fill in the rest.
Ah! Worpress has swapped your double dash for a single – that’s what I thought the first time:)
All the best,
Okay hypothetically if we exclude the ones that have been proven (schizophrenia, dyslexia, hyper activity ect…) how do we know they exist? Now I am certainly not looking for an argument, by all means but I have looked everywhere online, studies and organizations and I have found nothing “proving” mental “disorders”(I mean disorder excluding the proven ones lol ) exist. I mean I believe people get depressed (me as well) but seriously why is there no proof? Yes I believe it is reasonable to have a serotonin imbalance but why do they not have proof of it yet? I mean OK we have medications and there is global sales of antidepressants, stimulants, antianxiety and antipsychotic drugs have reached more than $76 billion a year—more than double the annual US government budget spent on the war against drugs but why haven’t they proven it before they solve the problem.
NOT saying that mental disorders are not real, simply asking why psychiatrist chose to treat the problem with medication BEFORE they prove what causes it in the first place? I mean how can possibly treat something in that way? the brain scans are here no there since they came out with pills before they had brain scans suggesting depression. they say brain scans now show brain changes that “prove†mental disorders, such as depression, are brain-based. There is no scientific evidence to prove this: it remains what the “fine print†in the studies tell you: “suggests,†“may†and “it is hoped.” so seriously guys.
I agree depression exist but I remain a skeptic-ISH because seriously why does everyone act like they are real when it is based on opinion not fact? I already said I think it is (so don’t try and convince me depression exists) but why do they still have no proof? this doesn’t make any sense!
help me with helpful answers.
THANK YOU ALL!
😀