La Vie Boheme

It's interesting, how time-sucking the

It's interesting, how time-sucking the NaNoWriMo forums are. Not so much today, because I'm feeling quite driven to get some writing done (almost 1500 words this morning, and raring to go for this afternoon), but in general. I'm also remembering why I started largely avoiding the forums last year.

There are a lot of topics with people asking who's written a novel before, who's been published before, who wants to publish their NaNo novel, etc. At first it was interesting to read and to post--kind of watching the vets instruct and encourage the newbies, but at times, seeing just how incredibly naive so many people are about the publication process just makes me blink. Was I ever that naive? Then I remember with what enormous hopes I sent my very first story off to Marion Zimmer Bradley's magazine, and I think, yep, every bit as naive.

For some reason, it makes me feel snarky and cynical. Part of me just wants to sit them all down and reassure them that no, they aren't going to produce anything publishable their first time out, but that that's not the point. That no one's going to recognize their unpolished and heretofore untapped brilliance right off the bat, but that they'll learn and learn and learn, just by putting one word after the other. Then I realize that if I told them that, they wouldn't believe me. I know I wouldn't have.

Then there are the people who rave about vanity presses, or e-publishing their books. They proudly go on about how many books they've published, and it's hard to resist delivering a smackdown. I realize now the appeal of the vanity press--you get to say you published a book. And most people either don't ask or don't think to ask if you had to pay for it to be published. It's the same game I sometimes play with my DP9 credits. I don't always add "they were roleplaying supplements" when I mention that I've worked on four books. It's funny, the things we do for validation.

I don't know. It's a common phenomenon I've seen amongst writers, particularly on the net, a kind of oneupmanship. A game of "I'm more of a real writer than thou." It's rarely put in those terms, but that's what it sometimes comes down to. I hate it when I feel myself start to play along. I don't want to go there. But sometimes I do. It's not like we're all in competition with each other, and yet in a way, we are.

Writing is such a solitary act, it's like we need to give ourselves rivals to push ourselves along.