I just saw this quote from Isaac Newton - "An essential aspect of creativity is not being afraid to fail."

I think I may agree with this....

Ani

I think I do too. To quote Samuel Beckett; "Try. Fail. Try again. Fail better."

Certainly fear of failure has stopped me writing for the past year or so. I got a load of rejections slips for my novel and I was also struggling to find a job, so I was getting rejected that way. I'd had enough of being turned down and - in my head at least - being told I was not good enough. It's only now that I'm back at work that I feel I can write, it doesn't matter if I never get published I don't need the money at the moment. I can write for myself and post to Writewords and that's enough for me.

I think fear of failure is what stops so many people from trying to realise their dreams. I've just read a book on this very subject, The War of Art by Steven Pressfield, written by a former US Marine turned successful novelist and screenwriter. His message is simple: stop making excuses, just sit down and get writing. However, he also claims that what people are really afraid of is not failure, but success, and how that will destabilise their world, which is not a concept I'd even considered - extremely thought-provoking.

Adele.

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And Gina, I really empathise with what your saying. There's no doubt that to send work out is to invite rejection, and there are times when that would crushing.

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correction: that would be crushing

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you're saying, even - time for a little lie down!

I would take that quote to mean that when you're not afraid, your internal censor doesn't get in the way and you write more freely. Ironically, when we don't care so much about it being good our writing normally turns out better!

Cath

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I'm definitely experiencing that with my current novel. When I first started it, I'd just finished my first novel and MA so I started writing it in a very carefree kind of way. Now I'm thinking I must get on and finish it, worrying about agents, etc. and I feel like the quality is going downhill!

And yeah, that's an interesting point about success too.

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About being afraid of success, that is! Maybe I think I should lie down with you, Adele!

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Not with you! Aaargh! (Hope Silver doesn't read this...)

Whoops, Cath, you've really done it now. I remember Silver's sicko MySpace page...

I think we should actually banish the word failure from our vocabulary! There is no such thing as failure. There is only learning, moving on, going further, improvement. So what if someone rejects me? Yes, there are bad feelings at first, but that's just the ego complaining; I shake it off and move on, try to do even better the next time. I think every so called "failre" I've had in publishing has made me a better writer. Looking back, the things I desperately wnated to get published simply weren't worthy of publication. My first effort was a 700 page tome I worked on for five years. I spent blood, sweat and tears on that novel, and it even had an agent who loved it. I re-wrote it again and again, following her advice. Finally I dropped it and wrote another, and this time all I cared abot was getting it right. I had learnt so much from writing the first, that this time I DID get it right.

People ask me if I;d like to see that very first one published, but that would be a disaster - I would NOT have it publshed now, if I had the choice. Yes, it was rejected by every single British publisher - but it taught me how to write.

I agree, Aruna. There is no such thing as failure - only learning!

Cath

Aruna & Cath, I like your sentiments here, but the reality seems to be that you can only learn from bad experiences if you understand why things went wrong. However, sometimes you never find out, which makes it tempting to withdraw from that particular field of endeavour. Or you may learn that, to paraphrase Steven Covey, your ladder was propped against the wrong wall and you could never have climbed to the top. Anyway, one thing seems certain: if you don't try, you'll never know.


Adele.

Learning your ladder was propped against the wrong wall is still learning, though!

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By the way, what was Silver's sicko page? Never had the pleasure....

I don't think it's necessary to know exactly "why" things went "wrong" in order to learn - sometimes all that we need to learn is to change our attitude. I've always been struck by the way attitude alters results; for instance, high expectations, believing YOUR book is God's gift to the world, getting into a tizzy of excitement at the thought of all the royalties you might be getting soon, invariable ends in a belly flop; and then, just when you believe you have to start right from the beginning, that you have a long, long way to go, everything happens. The writing is also better.


And again, "things going wrong" is only one defiition of events; if you regard everything as learning, then there really is no real right or wrong.

Cath, I always like to know why things haven't worked out, and find it hard to get closure until I've done that.

As for Slippery Silver, not for the easily-offended, and certainly not for anyone browsing at work:

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I see the blog is now hidden, and the lesbian fantasies have disappeared...

Adele.

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Aruna, we posted at the same time. I agree that having the right attitude can make a world of difference. But sometimes it's hard to stay positive in the face of the evidence. However, I often try (delusional? Moi?)


[Edited by david bruce at 12:29:00 on 09 June 2005
Reason: sorry, link too rude]

Thanks, Adele, for making that public.

Adam, mon brave, I seem to remember you were the one who made that public when you originally posted the link on this forum...

unfortunately, I can't control who posts on my page...hence, the lewdness...however, some of those posts are pretty damn funny.