Today I have the pleasure in welcoming Estevan Vega. He is the author of three novels, his latest, Arson, was released in May of this year.
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From the Ashes of Suck
Every writer thinks their words are gonna touch the world. Their story is gonna beat out any other shelf competition. The suck reality is that thousands upon thousands of books are published every year. So…odds are, yours isn’t gonna make it.
Discouraged yet?
I’ve been writing since fifth grade. I began writing my first book, Servant of the Realm, when I was in sixth, then published it the summer before sophomore year in high school. (I was fifteen.) Now, having built up a boat-load of aspirations, I quickly realized that the competition is fierce. It’s like the bookshelves have teeth and they’re out for blood. You’re blood. The blood of an ambitious writer. But how does a rising Phoenix like you survive when the sharks and vultures come out to play?
Just write.
The chances of you becoming the next Paolini (Eragon) or Young (The Shack) or whoever wrote The Lace Reader are kinda slim. Slim-fast slim. So slim, it’s almost invisible. Like, if you thought you could see the shelf before, get new glasses, because it just got farther. I hope I’ve scared the weaker ones away. You brutal, fierce, and vengeful scallywags who are still reading this: go for it. Yeah, the chances of survival suck. Yeah, the odds of fame, fortune, and having a harem of beautiful chicks on speed-dial is pretty much non-existent, but that’s part of the allure. Remember when you were a kid and you begged your mom for some spare change to put into “the claw” machine hoping you’d win that stuffed animal sandwiched between two immovable obstacles? The writing gig is like that. You take shots. You send out query letters and proposals and spare change at a dream that may get you some kind of recognition. It really sucks if you think about it. It can make you downright depressed if you wallow in self-pity for too long. But if you believe… If you stick with it…If you say eleven Hail Mary’s and six Our Fathers…
You still might fail.
That being said, being a writer is the coolest gig you can get. Way better than getting a real job. Think about it. As a writer, you get to create alternate worlds. You can make things happen the way they never happen in real life. Or, you can script something deeply personal and people who wouldn’t care before now might actually give a crap. How dank is that? People pay to hear your opinion. For someone whose opinion is often ignored, particularly by the opposite sex, it’s pretty sweet to have a public audience. That’s why I wanted to be a writer. There’s just so much to say about life, God, this wrecked place we call the world. There’s an endless supply of perspective and ideas, and writers get to be the ones who dictate how it all goes. And then our worlds can either become reality or reflect the way it is. Either way, there’s something to say.
When all this other stuff is placed in perspective, getting a paperback on a shelf almost becomes a second priority. Fame takes back seat. Your speed-dial harem becomes a distraction (well, on second-thought, scratch that). But all the cursing, sweat, tears, and prayers become worth it when someone picks up your words for the first time and feels something, anything. When that person has a reaction to your world, your words, that’s what really rocks.
Looking back, when Servant of the Realm hit Amazon, I got the good comments, and then I got the comments from people saying I should never write another book. It sucked, but it sorta comes with the territory. You gotta have a thick skin. Like Anaconda thick. Now, if I had listened to those moronic, myopic, melodramatic, and any other M word comments, then I wouldn’t have ever gotten a chance to write The Sacred Sin or Arson. As a writer, there will be failure. There will be broken hearts, broken dishes, and definitely broken laptops. But like the Phoenix, you will rise from the ashes of suck and discouragement to blaze a trail of new dreams. Just do it. As a writer, you can have it your way, because you’ll be lovin’ it. Okay. It’s official. This post now has more corny metaphors and cheesy commercial slogans than anything I’ve ever written or you’ve probably ever read. Please don’t sue me, Corporate America.
So, moral of the story…sometimes life sucks. Sometimes being a writer sucks. Sometimes the shelf competition sucks. But you gotta deal with it. It’s so worth it. So go out there and write something already. You know you wanna.
Oh, and go buy a copy of Arson. Or, like, 6.
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Thanks Estevan!
You can also find Estevan here:
3 Comments
Thanks for the post & advice Estevan. I read & reviewed Arson last week & enjoyed. Pleased to hear there's going to be a sequel too. I guess writing is like anything in life, if you want it bad enough you have to work for it.
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Loved this!
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I enjoyed this very much! Such great advice for us writers to never give up no matter how sucky things can get. I like that Mr. Vega doesn't sugarcoat it, but he doesn't make it seem impossible either. I'm definitely taking it to heart!
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