by Paula Munier
I have a magnet on my refrigerator that says, “Let go or get dragged.” It’s a reminder, as the Buddhists say, that holding on to possessions, people, even our thoughts and emotions is not good for us.
There’s a wonderful scene in the TV series Life with Damien Lewis that illustrates this idea of nonattachment perfectly. Lewis plays an LAPD cop who’s wrongly convicted of murder and spends twelve years in prison, where he becomes a Buddhist in the face of the violence he endures there. When he’s exonerated and released, he gets his detective job back—along with a $50 million “apology” from the City of Los Angeles. He also gets himself a blue 2003 Bentley Continental GT and as he’s racing down the road, he chants, “I am not attached to this car, I am not attached to this car, I am just a little attached to this car.”
As writers, we tend to get a little attached to our projects—sometimes to the detriment of our careers. As a writer myself, I understand this, however reluctantly. As an editor and now as an agent, I spend a lot of time helping other writers understand this, for the good of their careers. Because there are times in this book business when you need to let go, or get dragged.
LET GO OF YOUR BOOK.
I cannot tell you how many times I meet writers who are still workshopping, pitching, and querying the same book. I see them year after year, still dragging around a manuscript that for whatever reason—wrong time, wrong place, wrong book—has not managed to attract an agent or an editor or a publisher. Time to write something new. So many novelists never sell their first book, but they go on to sell their second or their third, and then they are off and running (like Cate Holahan).
Note: You can always revisit that first novel later, after you’ve written a new book that’s succeeded in the marketplace and suddenly they want everything you’ve ever written. (Which you may or may not want to give them.)
LET GO OF YOUR SERIES.
Conventional wisdom has it that it takes at least three or four books to establish a series and that often a series doesn’t break out until the seventh or eighth book. In the good old days, publishers gave writers time for their series to grow. Today, not so much. The pressure is on for a series to endear itself to readers quickly, and many series only run for a couple of books. Whether your series runs short or long, once your publisher declines to publish any more, you need to consider your next move carefully. If sales are falling, then let go of the series and write something new.
Note: Too many writers decide to continue their series on their own, turning to self-publishing, rather than writing something new. If your ultimate goal is traditional publishing, don’t do this. Write something new, and then when that succeeds, you may very well find that they’ll want to repackage and rerelease the series (like Hank Phillippi Ryan).
LET GO OF YOUR GENRE.
Sometimes finding your sweet spot in terms of genre takes a few tries. You write a work of science fiction, but you can’t sell it, and you let go of that dream and turn to mystery instead and become a New York Times bestselling author (like Julia Spencer-Fleming).
Even then, some writers refuse to embrace their newfound sweet spot, and insist on beating a dead horse, wasting their time rewriting that other-genre book instead of mining the gold of their sweet spot. Okay, okay, I know I’m mixing metaphors but this makes me particularly crazy.
Note: Writers always tell me that they’re worried about being typecast, but hey, you should be so lucky to be typecast as a successful author. And once you’ve solidified your position as a successful author, maybe then you can try something else.
On the flip side, maybe you’re writing in a genre that simply doesn’t resonate with readers any more. I wrote my first “sex and shopping” novel back in the Dark Ages and it was good enough to get me an agent. But that genre died overnight, just as my novel went out on submission. I tried a couple of other genres until I found my sweet spot—mysteries. If you’re writing in a genre that’s trending down and out, you may have to let go of that genre, and write something new.
LET GO OF YOUR EGO.
I just had a long talk with my editor about the latest book in my series. I’d finished the book, but given changes in the marketplace, we were all worried that the book as now written would not give readers what they were looking for these days. That’s why I’m letting go of significant portions of the book, and revising. I don’t mind—much—because I understand that ultimately, letting go is all about letting go of your ego. “I am not attached to this version of the story, I am not attached to this version of the story, I am just a little attached to this version of the story.”
Writers need a strong sense of self—it’s an act of audacity to believe that you’ve written something other people should read—but that’s not the same as ego. If your ego is dragging your writing career down, keeping you from moving on to a better way of being a writer in the world, let go of your ego (like moi).
If you’re holding on too tightly to a book, a series, a genre, a version of your story, recognize that it may be the ego in you talking, not the writer.
JUST BREATHE….
Let go or get dragged. And write something new. You’ll be glad you did.
This post originally appeared on Career Authors