How We Change As Writers
Last week I was trying to downsize one of my overflowing bookshelves when I came across a copy of my first novel, The Big House. The book was published in 2003 by Pocket Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, U.K.
I held my first book in my hands and felt that nostalgia we feel when someone hands us an old snapshot of our younger selves.
The innocence, I thought. The lovely and terrible innocence of this long-ago writer me.
Actually, it wasn’t that long ago.
I started that novel in 1999, when, except for a few short stories published in literary magazines, I knew nothing about writing a book-length work. To write the novel, I set myself a target word count of 1,000 words per day. They could be keepers or rubbish, but every morning, that was my word quota.
The book got finished. I researched and shortlisted publishers—all of them in my native Ireland or the U.K. I sent out queries and air-mailed sample chapters to my two top choices (see what I mean about innocence?), and the second editor requested a full manuscript. A few months later, I got an email offering a two-book contract and we were in business.
Compare this to 2015 and all our war stories that present the publishing process as an extended and grueling triathlon of submissions, non-responses, rejections and more submissions.
Oh, my! I thought. How things have changed in just 12 years!
Then I questioned my own thinking. From the millennium to now, the publishing world have changed—yes. But as a woman and as a writer, I’ve changed even more.
Here are 6 ways that I have changed as a writer:
The innocence of youth: In 2003, I believed that publishers, writers, agents et al comprised a worldwide sisterhood of literature-loving pals. And, as pals, our goals and loyalties and promises were aligned and immutable. Cringe.
Pleasing woman. Pleasing writer: For many of us who came of age in the 1970s, being nice and charming felt like an in-born duty. From my early writing career to now, at my desk or at public events, I hope that I’ve never been not nice. But my early work smacks of that “pleasing girl” stuff. My current work (and life) doesn’t. Thank you for this, middle age.
Writing to stereotypes: Perhaps it was a long apologia for leaving my native country, but in the early days, I felt that I had to write and play to a certain sense of Irish-ness that was, in retrospect, more Hollywood than true. It certainly wasn’t the real me. In my work and life, that’s gone now. Again, I have middle age to thank for this.
Communicating with agents, publishers, editors: Even in my most clueless days, I was never unprofessional. But I realize now that my business communications were way too friendly and gushy and sometimes, I even went for funny or witty. Now, I keep all my email or telephone interactions brief and strictly business. This way, there’s far less room for umbrage or internalizing the harsher aspects of the writing business.
Language evolution: In speaking and writing, I couldn’t sound like a native-born American if I tried to. However, I believe that we borrow from the best of what’s around us—and from our own reading. So in its style and cadence and vocabulary, my contemporary work has become much more blended and much more universal.
A woman’s agenda: In the 15+ years since I penned and published my first novel, I have woken up to the inequities and biases that have held my sister writers and me back–within and beyond the publishing arena. Now I see writing as a way to regain some of that lost ground. Critics and internet trolls be-damned, my work should reflect and advance my world view. I hope it does.
Writer as marketer: Warning: Prepare to cringe or giggle at the upcoming anecdote. When that first novel got distributed in the U.S., I emailed the publisher’s New York office and asked for an outline of the marketing plan for my book. There was none. I was puzzled and hurt. By 2015, all of us have got the message that, as well as penning the words, we have to roll up our sleeves and grow and leverage our own marketing networks. Some call this “building an author platform.” I prefer to think of it as good literary citizenship in which we applaud and support each other’s careers.
From first draft or publication to now, have you changed as writer? How?
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Áine Greaney has published four books and her essays have appeared in Salon.com, Creative Nonfiction, Books by Women, The Feminist Wire, The Boston Globe Magazine, NPR Boston and Writers Digest Magazine–and others.
Her personal essays have been cited as a notable in Best American Essays, and her work has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize.
Find out more about her on her website: www.ainegreaney.com
Follow her on twitter @AineGreaney
Category: On Writing
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