When Good Writes Go Bad!

Ever remember your first coffee? First kiss? First ghost story? I remember the first time I heard the boot quaking words The Great American Novel (TGAN). I was new to Writing.com, and had joined to pen serious poetry which was bound to see me renowned the world over as global bard. Guess what? Similar to Holy Grail stories, I started hearing about TGAN. Being British, I wanted to write it. Ho-hum...

However, it got me to thinking about my journey as a writer and what my Holy Grail was. In real life (outside of WDC) I started out as a guitarist in a local rock band, who just so happened to write the songs for the band. I experienced the miracle of aftershow parties and soon became a pregnant guitarist with a local rock band, which is when the lead singer got 'tired and emotional', turned round to the record company executive who wanted to sign us and said "Don't waste yer time love, she's up the duff, so there won't be no touring!"

Apart from a few session musician gigs, there ended my career in the music industry, but the poetry bug had bitten me, and having found satirical/political lyrics fun (Billy Bragg, Elvis Costello, Morrissey etc) I found comedy as natural as breathing. Soon, my attention span developed to include short stories and a friend advised me to join WDC. I had no ambition. I wanted to write to see if I could and see if anyone laughed at the same things I did. However, I get distracted easily and this place is HUGE. There are members from all over the surface of the planet, and there became a tendency in me to think big...

November 2007 came and with it National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) People began asking, "Are you doing it? Are ya? Well, are ya, huh?" Which became translated in my head as:"YOU HAVE TO WRITE A NOVEL".

"Erm, maybe next time...?" I answered, but wasn't convinced. I could hear the whispers ... "... real writers are doing NaNo... real writers are going to write The Great American Novel... I bet Stephen King is writing under a pseudonym again, just to have another crack at it..." There was definitely a Holy Grail pursuit, similar to the Land Rush. It took me a while to back off and remember several points:

1. National Novel Writing Month is not INTERnational Novel Writing Month
2. Penguin (publishing house, not Princess♥BooBoo ) will not come after me if I don't write a novel.
3. I might not qualify for the title of The Great American Novelist because I'm not American...
4. Erm, do I want to write a novel?

My received reviews were changing too. When I first joined the site I thought reviewers saw me like this:

Reviewer: "Ooh, look, a Newbie! Thank goodness for that; I thought I would never get my rating average back down to four stars. I'll go in, give 'em a quick two star handshake, and be back to 'serious reviewer' status in no time!"

When November arrived I couldn't be considered a Newbie anymore, so was forced to face the fact my low ratings were probably more to do with my spelinge and, penchant, for; inappropriate! punctuation...?! Reviews are like tides, they tend to ebb and flow with the seasons and reviewers focus on particular areas for a time. In the autumn of 2007 they were all similar to this:

Reviewer: "Aah, less than 10kbs... (one of those Flash Fiction writers ) 'Acme, this story has great potential to be developed, but you are selling it short by keeping it short. It doesn't feel finished because it hasn't taken me a fortnight to read and there appears to be no prequel or sequel... Let me know when you have amended it for consideration as The Next Great American Novel'"

I still feel as if the be all and end all of writing sometimes pushes me to believe my Holy Grail should be to write a novel and get published, but there are many reasons people write and those just aren't mine. I really wanted to have a bit of fun and make a couple of people laugh along the way. Heck, I would have settled for making a few folk angry!

Now, in real life I work with kids as a Youth Leader, and earn money by being an administrator. I have a smashing hubby, a lovely home, an expanding waist due to contentment. However, I do realise others write as a form of therapy, or to communicate ideas, or to hone and develop skills. Whatever reason you write for, remember It's your reason. That fact alone makes it the right write. I could go on about how to react to reviews, but each review is different and people gain different things from them. When I look at the writer I started life out as, I hold my hands up and say, "Yes! My writing has improved because I've learned from feedback and constructive criticism." But I've also found myself steered down different pathways which I didn't want to go.

So. Are you ready for my conclusion?

My name is Acme, and I do not want to write The Great American Novel.

*sighs* There, that feels a whole lot better!

"Big doesn't mean great, and great doesn't mean big..." Jim Collins