All the Things I Don’t Know
By Greer Macallister | February 1, 2021 |
As I was brainstorming ideas for today’s post, I thought about lessons I’ve learned, wisdom I might share. After all, my fourth novel was recently published, and I’ve got another three under contract. By most measures, I’m doing all right at this writing and publishing thing.
At the same time, I thought, how much can what I’ve learned really help writers who are not quite as far along in their careers? After all, one of the things I’ve learned is that everyone’s process is different. Knowing how I got where I am is no recipe for you getting where you want to be.
So today, instead of telling you what I know, I thought I’d delve into a much bigger, broader topic: what I don’t know.
After writing (and rewriting) all these pages, pitching all these concepts, revising all these scenes, enduring and celebrating, grinning and weeping, hustling and collapsing, here are some of the things I still don’t — and will probably never — know:
I don’t know if social media sells books. Sure, I can tell you that I’ve built a following on Instagram and Twitter and Facebook. I can tell you that people comment with “This sounds great!” and “I can’t wait for this book to come out” and “AMAZING!” Do they actually buy the book? Some of them, probably. But do I comment on other people’s posts with “This sounds great” and never get around to buying the book myself? Absolutely.
Yes, I have a general feeling that I’m selling more books than I otherwise would because I engage on social media with readers, other writers, and the book community — but there are no hard numbers to back this up. I cannot at all quantify what 15 minutes on Instagram adds up to, sales-wise. I can only say that’s 15 minutes I can’t spend on something else. So I engage on social media because I like it and because it’s fun. Because I can’t prove it does a lick of good otherwise.
I don’t know how to tell if my writing’s any good while I’m writing it. My most recent book was without question the hardest one to write, squeaking out just barely in time for its deadline, a flat-out mess of a process during which I was still researching while writing (the worst) and staying up after midnight every night for months to push, push, push forward. When I finished I was relieved. What I wasn’t: sure that the result I’d been pushing for was any good at all. This story has a happy ending — my editor read it and immediately said it was my best work yet, and readers seem to agree — but I can’t forget that feeling of looking at the completed draft and just having no idea whatsoever if it was my best work or my worst. Thank goodness I have a team of people I trust, but hoo boy. Should it feel this uncertain four books in? I don’t know. Does it? Oh yes.
I don’t know if I made the right decisions along the way. It’s hard not to compare yourself to more successful writers and ask, “Why not me?” And this is one of the big things you’ll never know. If I’d written a different second book. If I’d pushed back harder on a title. If I’d hired an outside publicist, written from a different POV, paid for a more extensive tour, pitched more books and written them faster — how would my career be different? Would I be more successful? I’m fully aware this kind of second guessing is utterly useless. That doesn’t make it any easier to resist.
It should be clear by now that I could go on forever. The list of things I don’t know is far longer than the list of things I do know, obviously. And that’s okay. We don’t live in a world of certainty, and luckily, being a successful writer doesn’t require that we be certain. It requires that we work hard and never give up. That, in my opinion, is the most important thing to know.
What’s something you don’t know about your writing career? Does it make you comfortable or uncomfortable not to know it?
Raised in the Midwest, Greer Macallister earned her MFA in creative writing from American University. Her historical novels have been named Book of the Month, Indie Next, LibraryReads, Target Book Club, and Amazon Best Book of the Month picks and optioned for film and television. Her latest novel, The Thirteenth Husband, is inspired by Aimee Crocker, the Paris Hilton of the Gilded Age. Macallister also writes the ongoing Five Queendoms epic fantasy series as G.R. Macallister. A regular contributor to Writer Unboxed and the Chicago Review of Books, she lives with her family in Boston, MA. www.greermacallister.com
I don’t know if I’ll ever have a writing career, if you’ll respond to my comment, know who I am, care to know who I am. Um, who am I anyway?
How do you see me? Do you see me? Have you seen me? Would you remember me if you had?
Hmm, pretty interesting, Greer. Your post is where I’m at in life, actually or is it? Dunno.
I can only believe, trust, presume, and assume because I rarely know anything until after the fact. If it really is a fact. Is what I’m saying even making any sense? Don’t know that either, but I believe, unless I really don’t what it means to believe.
How interesting, Greer.
How humbling.
I likes–maybe, dunno.
*smile*
Hmmm – things I don’t know about writing/publishing? Does this comment box have a word-count limit?
I suppose I could boil it all down to this: I have no idea if I’ll ever find an audience (well, one of any real substance–you know, beyond the few dozen I’m guessing are a lock… but I’m not even sure about that).
But here’s the thing I *am* certain about: The item above hasn’t, and likely won’t, diminish the unrelenting drive I feel to carry on with this series. I’m guessing these two statements will remain with me until the end of my days (or for as long as I’m capable to carry on).
Fun and thought-provoking post, Greer. It’s comforting to know we all swim in the same uncertain seas. Looking forward to your next one (seriously!). Cheers!
I’m not much, well maybe I am, but I’ll be a part of your audience, Vaughn. It’s Vaughn, right? Hey–maybe we can work on building a platform for this unknown, possible, audience dilemma thingy. Is it a dilemma thingy? I don’t know.
Oh yeah–I can feel the certainty in your certainty statement, most certainly.
Oh yeah, I’m with you on the platform building, B.B. Knowing you, I’m certain that the platform you come up with will have jet-propelled levitation, and will come complete with a lounge, with those captain’s chairs that spin and recline.
Heck, I’d certainly be delighted if you could just hook me up with a tow. Thanks, as always, for the uplift, Brian.
Actually, I love not knowing how my book is selling. I do my best to “market” in ways I’m comfortable doing so, and in plenty of ways I need to “nudge” myself gently to challenge my more introverted tendencies. I tend to my social media in the way I’m willing to, which is moderately. Doing otherwise would compromise the quality of my life. I take every opportunity I see to mention the book appropriately without being solely focused on it. I look for opportunities to speak and engage with authors, and especially with children, and I understand my own, and my tiny press’ limitations. I find that for life in general, I do better without the pressure and stress caused by “outside” expectations and measurements. In that finish-line-free emotional environment, I thrive.
I’m the same way, re selling, Carol!
I LOVE this post, Greer! It expresses so well what I’ve been grappling with—that I have no idea which of the things I’m doing, if any, make a bit of difference in terms of people actually buying and reading my books. All I do know is that “doing nothing” is probably a bad idea :-) The big thing I don’t know is how to toggle between promotion and writing. They seem to require two entirely different brains—make that two different selves. I know that I need to promote my forthcoming book, but what I really want to do is stay immersed in the story world of my WIP. I’m guessing that more experienced pros know how to do this, but it still eludes me …
I don’t know if the story I’m writing is any good, or if it’s just more of the same. I don’t know if it’s worth putting the time into, but now it has become somewhat of a challenge, so I have to see it through. I have some followers of my worldbuilding blog series, but I don’t know if people are actually reading it, or just liking to be nice. I hope they are because I enjoy putting it out there. But it is difficult to tell with no engagement as feedback.
I suppose my biggest “I don’t know” is if I’d been more productive over the last ten (gads, has it been that long?) years, would I be in a different place with my writing. All signs point to yes, so then I have to wonder if I would do anything differently if I could, anyway?
I’m forced to consider that, besides writing two and a half books, a handful of short stories and some poetry, I also have raised two awesome boys, moved to a new state, been there for my parents and nephew when they needed me, continued to work a full time job, kept up my share of the housework and tried to stay healthy and keep some sanity in the last four years of political chaos. I recognize that I’ve shorted my unpaid second job (writing) sometimes, in pursuit of relaxation or family happiness, and I vacillate between knowing other people have been prolific in worse, but also remind myself that at least I’m still writing and growing as a writer.
So, *shrug*, I guess that’s an I don’t know, too. The main thing I am trying to convince myself of now is that I am where I am in the process and that’s good enough. If I want a different outcome, I need to do some things differently, and I have made some changes. Maybe in another ten years I’ll have a different answer. :)
According to my freelance editor, my manuscript deserves to be read, and she likes my query letter. But I can’t know whether the agents I’ve first researched and then queried have bothered to read what I’ve sent. Either I get no reply at all, or the replies are obviously boilerplate. I’m sure certain filters are being applied, but that’s that’s another thing I don’t know.
What a great post, Ms. Macallister..
I haven’t published anything yet, so I don’t know a great deal more than you don’t know. All the same, it’s so very helpful to see that side of a published and well reviewed author, and to know that she doesn’t know and is sometimes bothered by the same things I am. Thank you so much for that.
A man I respect once told me that in the face of uncertainty what is impelling you to act is almost always a better choice than your impulse to stop. He added that even when it isn’t, the trouble it gets you into is far more interesting that the trouble the other gets you into.
I don’t know when I’ll master marketing and advertising. Unfortunately, both divert the tiny bit of energy I have from writing, so it may not be until the third book in the trilogy is finished. The first took 15 years, the second is in its sixth (about half finished, but I’m faster now, honest!), and I’m hoping to sail through the third in less than five.
I have not yet been successful at attracting the right influencer – or ‘going viral’ – one can hope. I seem to have a secret society of people who love the first book (from the nice long reviews on Amazon), are waiting desperately for the second (they’ve told me), and are not telling any of their friends. Is that a real possibility?
It’s a good thing I have a sense of humor!
I am a writer who began in her fifties. I don’t know how much time I have left to write. I have a writer friend in her nineties, but I also have friends who have dropped dead around the age I am now. I have many ideas for future books, but will I have the physical and mental ability to continue writing?
But there is nothing I can do about this. All I can do is write today.
Interesting take, Greer. I agree all you said and some of what the others have commented on as well–what is making a difference in either my sales or my craft? Who knows. It’s all so nebulous and mysterious. I often think of Malcolm Gladwell’s The Tipping Point, however, when I start thinking like this. Eventually, there’s a moment when a match is lit and a fire begins. It’s just a matter of timing, skill, a lot of hard work, and a little luck. If only we could bottle that up! lol.
Loved this post, Greer.
What I don’t know . . . Yikes, this would be a big list.
I think it’s a safer bet to realize it’s okay not to know. We are artists. We are passionate about our craft. It makes our lives richer.
This reminds me of a favorite saying. “Write because you love to, because there is no other way you’d rather spend your time. Write for you, because you love it. Life is too short for anything else.”
Yours,
Dee
What I know about writing: I know I love to write. I know my writing is pretty good on some points, lacking in others. I know where I want to improve my writing, what I want it to sound like, the effect I want it to have on my readers. How to get from where my writing is to where I want it to be . . . that is the murky middle. The only way to know the way is to take the road. Whether I will get there — that’s another unknown.
I opened this article on Monday and am just getting to it now, and I’m glad I did. I agree with everything you wrote, Greer, and everything in everyone’s comments. What I DO know is that I have met (online and IRL) more delightful, generous, thoughtful, and interesting people over the past decade of writing and working toward publication than I ever would have had I not started down this winding road. There are moments of uncertainty, anxiety, and futility, but they are far outweighed by the camaraderie, connection, and joy.