The Writer As Serial (Book) Monogamist

Very early in my career, when I was visiting there for my class reunion, I held a booksigning at a bookstore in my hometown in Iowa. There were few interested customers. The store manager, obviously thinking to cheer me up, told me a story about how author Robert James Waller had held a booksigning there a few years ago for a book of essays and literally no one had bought his book. She said he didn’t seem dispirited and she had admired his persistence and his belief in himself.

At the time of my booksigning, Waller’s novel, The Bridges of Madison County, had been on the bestseller list for weeks. It was the mega-hit of the year, and went on to be made into a movie with Clint Eastwood and Meryl Streep. The bookstore manager was obviously trying to be encouraging and imply that some day one of my books might end up a bestseller, too. Even at the time, starry-eyed and naïve as I was, I knew I was writing in a genre that would never have that sort of mass appeal. But I could still dream of a day when I could attract more than a handful of people to a booksigning.

The years have passed, and the book market has changed profoundly. Booksignings are no longer how authors engage with their readers; nor are they an accurate reflection of career success. But the core of that story hasn’t changed. Successful writers have to believe in themselves, even when it seems like no one else does. Robert Waller never gave up on his dream, even when it looked very unlikely to come true.

To be a successful writer these days, you have to be brutally practical in many ways. Marketing your book requires knowledge and business savvy as well as the ability to adapt and change. It’s an entirely different skill set compared to the actual writing process. But one thing both writing and marketing require is the belief that what you are doing is worthwhile.

Writing a novel isn’t easy, and the only way to get through it is to have faith as you write that the book you are writing is worth the effort involved. We have to care about our characters and their story and believe the tale we’re telling has meaning and importance. Without that, we’d never be able to put the hours in and get to the point of having anything to sell.

I do great at believing in the book as I write it. There may be times when it seems hopelessly flawed, but those moments are far outweighed by the flashes of excitement when my characters come to life and show me who they are. The magical experience of having plot points weave together and start to make sense. The satisfaction of having an actual story appear out of days and weeks of plodding, dogged writing.

The high from those moments keeps me going until the book is finished. But then the doubts crowd in. Suddenly, I have no faith in the story at all. When I’m not immersed in the book, it all turns to crap, and I stop believing I have something worthwhile to sell.

That is my challenge, to believe in the book beyond the process of creating it. I wonder how other authors do it. Maybe they never have that problem. Maybe their passion for their story never wanes, but grows stronger as their manuscript metamorphoses into an actual book.

I think part of the problem is that once I write a book, I move on to the next one. I’m only in love with a story while I’m writing it. Then I fall out of love and become infatuated with a new story. I’m the classic serial monogamist, moving from one passionate love affair to the next one.

I need to find a way to remain invested my creation, and I’d love to hear from other writers how they keep their enthusiasm for their finished books alive and strong. I need to figure this out if I’m going to have a writing career, along with writing books.