Earlier today, I read (and thoroughly enjoyed, as I do all of her posts) Spy Scribbler’s blog entry about (among other things) books we read over & over that “settle into our subconscious” and become a part of us.
Meanwhile, Ms. Lynn Price of Behler Publications posted a very encouraging entry about what to do while waiting on a response to a query letter. I enjoyed this as well, as I do all of her posts (even though she’s rather rabidly anti-self publishing, and even though she rejected Waiting For Spring. I’m a sucker for brutal honesty, and she dishes it out in wheelbarrow loads.) She ended the post with the words: “Get off the couch and go write a bestseller.”
Reading these two entries back-to-back got me thinking (again) about why it is I write. Goals, dreams, aspirations…you know, crap like that. And so I put it to you, my writer friends:
Assuming the two were mutually exclusive (as they frequently are) would you rather write a book that seeps into the subconscious and becomes part of your readers or a bestseller?
~~~~~
On a side note, East Fifth Bliss by Douglas Light (Behler Publications) is a seriously good book.
R.J. Keller 
LMAO @ “Get off the couch and go write a bestseller.” Cause that’s totally realistic. 😛
I for one, am glad you took matters into your own hands with “Waiting for Spring.”
Hey Z!
Thanks a bundle. I, for one, am glad you’re enjoying it.
🙂
I’ve already got a job with much better security and benefits than I would get as a bestselling author unless I hit that magical top one percent. Writing a bestseller for the sake of writing a bestseller is for people who need the money and/or want to pursue writing as a career.
Would I like to get lucky? Sure. But unless I find myself in need of cash via any legal means at my disposal, I’m not going to write something just because I think it will sell.
I would far rather make one person think or (as in the case of my current WIP) laugh, than make a hundred thousand buy my book and then forget about it until the next yard sale.
But I’m a hobby writer, and just like hobby quilters, hobby auto mechanics, and hobby marathoners, I’m not in this to make a buck. If it isn’t fun, I’m moving on to some other pursuit that is.
Oh…almost forgot, Z.
The ‘get off the couch’ comment was referring to the fact that Ms. Price was giving writers/readers of her blog some therapy (as in ‘lie down on the couch and we’ll talk’)…not that said writers/readers of her blog were sitting on their asses. I should have mentioned that in my original post, but it didn’t occur to me how it would look out o’ context. (My bad.)
BG…
I’m with you. But then, you knew that. 😉
RJ, I love your blog. The name cracks me up. I’m adding you to my blogroll immediately. I don’t know why I didn’t know you were here!!! Aargh!
I’m going to get off my ass and catch up on your blog. Then I’ll write a best seller (if I still have time).
I’m with bunnygirl. I ain’t quittin’ my day job!
Oooh… interesting. (Ditto the WFS comment up there^^… it’s a seeper. Now why doesn’t that sound very attractive? But you know what I mean.)
I think if I wrote and didn’t overly enjoy the process then I’d want (ideally) to bang out something and make a flipping fortune out of it…hoping never to have to do it again.
But I LOVE the process so I’ll never bloody stop even if they take all my crayons away!
If something I wrote seeped into another’s subconscious it would be like winning the lottery for me… absolutely perfect… but probably with cheaper champagne than if I’d actually won it :0o
Hey Robin! Great to see you here. Just added your blog to my roll as well.
(Blogroll…sounds like something you’d hesitate to order at Subway.)
KC!
Thanks for the kind words. “Seeper” sounds good to me. And thanks for that very honest answer.
BTW, if anyone ever tries to take away your crayons, let me know. I’ll track ’em down and kick their ass for ya.
Bestseller. I would like everybody in the world to read what I write and say it’s excellent. And also I’d like to read the reviews telling me it’s excellent from my new house in Hawaii that I’d buy with the royalties.
A friend of mine lives in Hawaii. She tells me the cockroaches are atrocious. I think they’re plotting with those lesbian zombies of yours to take over the world.
Forewarned is forearmed. Although I’ve personally got all the forearms I need.
Loved reading this thaanks