Comments on Joseph L. Selby Writes: The Wrong Type of Crazy

I know people like to think that M. Night Shyamala...

2012-01-25T14:10:13.758-05:00

I know people like to think that M. Night Shyamalan made an Airbender movie. But he didn't. That was the result of hallucinogens accidentally pumped into the water system. There is no airbender movie. Only the TV show.

You're not left behind! You're where you n...

2012-01-25T13:07:29.516-05:00

You're not left behind! You're where you need to be. If you must compare, just remind yourself you're ahead of me :). Waaaay ahead.

You mean the series, right? Because watching the Last Airbender as a movie will make anyone suicidal. Damn you Shyamalan! You had a very simple task and you screwed it up six ways from Sunday!

It's the drawback of being friendly with other...

2012-01-24T22:49:16.723-05:00

It's the drawback of being friendly with other authors. They keep succeeding and succeeding. Stop it, all of you. Too many of you are succeeding, and I'm getting left behind. It just makes you think, maybe you're doing it wrong. You like to think, I have a unique voice, but then it's two in the morning and you just watched Avatar the Last Airbender again for the fourth time and you start to wonder, are you doing it wrong? Is your unique voice uninteresting or unartistic? You write with a little of this but you should be writing with a little of that.

*booty shake, booty shake*

I think part of what you also need to look at next...

2012-01-24T16:11:10.554-05:00

I think part of what you also need to look at next to the crazy meter, the feeling things at 11, is your expectation level. I find I sabotage myself time and again because my expectations of a situation (and not just in writing) don't match with the reality of the situation.

Having very high expectations is a good thing, and I would never tell you to lower them (considering I also have high expectations of myself, I know you CAN'T always lower them), but I also think sometimes perspective is key.

Sure, you're not published. You don't have an agent. You haven't met a personal benchmark for success.

But you have received requests for fulls and partials. You have written and finished a gazillion books. You're a much better writer now then you were three years ago. It's not what you want, but it should count for something I think.

Hang in there!