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09
The outsized ego is
not a weapon of value.
You write because you believe you have something worth
a reader’s time. This is not necessarily an act of pure,
unadulterated ego. It is an act of confidence based upon
mutual exchange. You are offering something of value to
a consumer.
But because it is such a personal act—it’s all coming
from one source, you—the ego can easily become infl ated
or defl ated. In either case, you’ve got to be ready to put
the ego where it belongs—out of the way.
Praise might be heaped on you, and that’s not always
a good thing. You can, as the saying goes, start believ-
ing your own press. You may be tempted to go on cruise
control with your writing.
Or, worse, you may feel so much pressure to live up to
the praise that you freeze up. One form of this is the in-
famous “second-book syndrome” that many “overnight
successes” have suffered through.
On the other end of the scale, getting slammed by crit-
ics or readers can easily turn your ego into a Hindenburg.
You can start by expecting to be hammered by the
small. Robert Crais, the great Los Angeles noir writer,
noted once that “the world is full of haters,” and he gets
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some of their e-mail. He has an assistant weed those out
and doesn’t even read them.
So don’t let success make you or failure break you.
And don’t confuse ego with self-confi dence.
I’ve spoken to experienced writer friends about this.
There seems to be a rise in the arrogant up-and-comer
variety of unpubbed (or self-pubbed) writer. They are
“know-it-alls” even though they have never had a book
published, or have only forked out dough to have a vanity
press bring out their book.
It’s as if they think aggressive and uncivil egocen-
trism can hurtle them to the front of the author pack,
where their narcissism demands they be ensconced. They
think they can get there without doing the hard work of
learning the craft and growing as a writer.
Listen, being a published writer is a privilege you
earn. You’re not going to earn it by tooting a horn no
one wants to hear. You’re going to earn it by knuckling
down and writing, and letting the writing itself do the
tooting for you.
When the day comes that your book does appear, you
of course can undertake promotion and marketing. By
then, it will make sense to let the world know your book
is out.
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