Current Affairs

…my foot, my mouth. My foot spends a lot of time there, I’m ashamed to say.

A reader wrote this comment about my blog post "Champagne Wishes and Caviar Dreams" on Tess Gerritsen.

I’m a huge fan, both of Tess and her blog, and frankly, she’s given me, as a
new kid on the block, a lot of hope and inspiration.

The unpublished treat the published like ungrateful, whiny children should we
dare to even HINT that all is not Nirvana in our publishing journey.

Publisher didn’t promote your book?

Too damn bad, at least you HAVE a book. At least you HAVE a publisher.

Worries about meeting your sell through?

Too damn bad, at least you HAVE book. At least you HAVE a publisher.

Worries about revisions, or the fact your agent didn’t negotiate a small
enough reserve against returns, and now you have a $186 royalty check?

Too damn bad, at least you HAVE a book. At least you HAVE a publisher.

It gets to the point you just shut up and don’t say a thing because of the
jealousy. Now why would we, as other writers, do that to Tess? We know, or are
learning, the ropes. She’s open, she’s honest, and let’s face it, the bigger you
are (industry-wise, of course), the bigger the problems.

It’s refreshing to read a New York Times bestselling author willing to ADMIT
IT!

You go, Tess. Keep it up.

Reading that, I felt like a total schmuck. Why didn’t I see it that way from the get-go? Tess wasn’t at fault, it was me. I was way out of line. Tess, I owe you a sincere apology.

There are some folks who think I was too hard on Tess Gerritsen (A writer whose work I admire and enjoy, by the way)  for lamenting on her blog that her latest book only reached #17 on the New York Times bestseller list.  She also wasn’t too pleased about my post. She wrote on her blog:

It seems that writers who reach a certain level of success aren’t allowed to
have any insecurities, any doubts about our careers. We shouldn’t be allowed to
wonder if our sales are in a death spiral, whether we’ve lost "it". We should
simply smile and wave and feel like, well, the untouchable queen of England.

I think Tess missed my point. Sharing her insecurities is great (I find it very  endearing, actually) it’s what she said  and how she expressed it.  Can she really expect people to sympathize with her angst about only hitting #17 on the NY Times bestseller list? If that’s a problem, I think it’s one all writers would like to have.

My agent calls those "champagne problems." It’s like a lottery winner saying he’s depressed  he just  won $500,000  because he won $1 million before… or a TV producer with the highest-rated show in America who is miserable because his series didn’t get an Emmy nomination for Best Drama. On the other hand,  I think any writer can appreciate the  insecurities Tess feels  when she begins each book:

The truth is, I’ve never conquered my insecurity as a writer, and having hit
the list doesn’t change that. I’ve never lost touch with the feeling that
success is a never-ending struggle. Maybe it has to do with the fact that I
slogged my way up as a paperback romance writer, that I wrote nine of those
before my first hardcover, and I’ve never forgotten what rejection feels like.
Every time I sit down to start a new book, I’m always hit with that panicky
feeling of "How on earth did I do this the last time?"

That’s refreshing to hear coming from someone with the kind of success Tess has had…and it’s good for other writers to know, particularly those struggling to make it.  So please, Tess, don’t let my comments stop you from being so open, honest, and helpful on your blog. God knows I’ve certainly made the mistake of saying exactly the wrong thing on my blog… in fact, I do it almost daily. I may be doing it again right now.