I saw your comment concerning AAM and popped over to see your blog. I just have to toss you some encouragement.

Shut up and write!

You are very funny, sharp, intense, and possessing significant insight to be a pleasurable read – this is just from a few blog posts.

You age doesn’t matter and her success matters less. Form your own magazine and publish your stuff in it. Publish your stuff on Amazon via CreateSpace. Network your ass off on FaceBook. The Internet has opened an amazing world of chance and rejection for the writer that wasn’t present a dozen years ago. The only thing that makes a difference is your desire to achieve (I’m giving you the benefit of the doubt as to your talent because I’ve enjoyed your work here so far).

You can do it, just work on keeping yourself out of your way.

I have a hard enough time following that advice myself some times.

John Donald Carlucci
Astonishing Adventures Magazine
astonishingadventuremagazine.com

I’m not saying your writer in question is untalented. Perhaps she has oodles of it AND has worked her butt off to get where she is. But maybe not. The thing is, it doesn’t matter if she’s worked hard, or overcome challenging obstacles, because talent doesn’t always win out. Life is unfair that way. There will always both underserving sods (in our eyes) winning prizes, landing contracts and bookdeals while the rest of us gnash teeth. Often they are the people we most disklike.

If you look at success as being mainly about publishing and accolades, there will always be someone to hate. The writing world is full of ambitious asses willing to sell you your own mother back if you let them.

If you look at it in terms of battling you own inner demons — if you use this experience to fuel you and continue to write despite (inspite?) of the anger/envy/unfairness you may vanquished some of that excess energy and feel good about what you’ve accomplished — no one can take that away from you. Keep writing. Your ability to wrangle with this and other issues says a lot.

verbivore: yes, rage is rage, i don’t deny it. it actually used to fuel my writing. now it just eats away at me. but i will keep writing. keep writing. keep writing.

jade park: now you’re making me feel guilty. i really don’t wish anyone animus towards success (ok, i do sometimes). but as one gets older, rage and jealousy become crutches. they serve as great reasons not to write, like i need more of them.

This kind of turmoil will never stop–the key is that you never stop, either.

collin: true — we do hate it when our friends become famous. i’m just trying not to begrudge someone who may actually deserve some success. it is a crapshoot sometimes.

bloglily: now that made me smile. but upon reflection, it’s a pretty great idea. i’ve never been drawn to genre fiction; does that mean i can’t write it? (“yep,” they say in unison). and just how gruesome shall the murder be?

rellis: thank you for the advice, which is good. i actually married a woman who is a far better writer than me, and i was once kinda sorta jealous. but i’ve gotten over that.

what i find disturbing isn’t that i’m jealous (though i am a little disturbed), but that the jealousy is just making me insane, not motivating me at all.

And you know the kicker? I think I banished jealousy so thoroughly from my life that I lost a lot of motivation, too. Lately I’ve been trying to get it back — trying to get pissed off at the successes of others in order to goad myself.

A dollop of jealousy is a useful thing!

The so-so writer will be your first victim. And the death should be really, really gruesome. Have some fun with that gruesome death.

The killer? Oh, I don’t know — pick someone else you really hate.

If you want a list of agents who could sell a book like that, let me know. You don’t even have to use your real name if you want to save that for works of literary greatness. But the huge advance? You’ll have to get that check made out in your real name.

Hang in there dude. xo