Comments on: 6 Personality Types Who Will Fail as Writers

By: L Armstrong

L Armstrong — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 20:59:01 +0000

Hooray! You are so right!

By: Rosanne Dingli

Rosanne Dingli — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 13:48:28 +0000

Goodness – they all did think it was about them.

I liked this very much, and found you very amusing, direct and willing to use fact and conjecture to make readers sit up.

By: Victoria

Victoria — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 06:06:27 +0000

Elysia, I love tirades. My blog is always a place where you’re welcome to tirade all you like!

By: Elysia

Elysia — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 05:29:17 +0000

Oh god, that was a total tirade! I’m sorry. Apparently this post really set me off, haha.

By: Elysia

Elysia — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 05:28:41 +0000

Thanks for this post. It’s really encouraging! Maybe that sounds a little weird, but sometimes I need a reminder that my passion and hard work do mean something. I’m anywhere near as disciplined and mature as I’ll need to be in the long run, but reading an amusing article about those little bad habits taken to an extreme helps to make the change seem a little less daunting. I can tell myself that even though critique can still sting, and sometimes (okay, a lot of the time) skip writing just because I don’t feel like it, at least I’m not spiteful, and at least I still put in the time.

The thing that bugs me the most out of all of those is number 5, I think. I have to bite my tongue whenever someone close to me says something stupid about getting published. People can be so insulting sometimes, like writing is a piece of cake, and anyone can make it big. You have to love writing for the sake of writing; I have no idea where this notion that being a writer is glamorous, fun, and easy came from. How can a person want to write if they don’t actually love all that writing entails? It isn’t always easy, but to me, almost everything you described as boring stuff is rather exciting. Maybe that’s because I’m new to the publishing world, but still. Even if I never make a dime, I’m never going to stop. I appreciate meeting people who feel the same way.

By: lori sizemore » A. Victoria Mixon, Editor » 6 Personality Types Who Will Fail as Writers

Mon, 14 Mar 2011 13:27:19 +0000

[...] via A. Victoria Mixon, Editor » Blog Archive » 6 Personality Types Who Will Fail as Writers. [...]

By: Lee

Lee — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 19:59:15 +0000

There are a heck of lot of people out there saying they are writers, or aspiring writers with, frankly, their heads up in the clouds.

I was one myself, thinking that writing the next great world novel (I am not American) was all about producing papers after papers (my dreams dated back to days before laptops) of an amazing story in a quaint cafe somewhere.

I have since become a big fan of several writers, though, and I read everything about them I could get my hands on – including the nitty gritty details about the work. The non romantic side.

That part hasn’t deterred me. I just know that I need to work and work and work harder to produce quality reading – and then prepare for multiple rejections.

Thank you for posting this. I’ll forward it to fellow writers I like and hide it from those I don’t care about

By: Victoria

Victoria — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 18:59:36 +0000

I don’t allow savaging on my site. Be nice, or be missing.

By: Wandering Author

Wandering Author — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 18:53:36 +0000

These are all true, but I especially like number six. At the risk of being savaged by later commenters I will say this: I would rather write the best novel I possibly can and sell six hundred copies than churn out something targeted to the lowest common denominator and sell sixty thousand. By this, I don’t mean to suggest that sales figures, high or low, have any direct connection with quality.

What I do mean is I would have no respect for any writer who is happy just to be published. I’m not as good a writer as I’d like to be – and I never will be. No matter how good I ever become, I will always want to improve to become even better than that. If all someone wants is wealth and fame, there are much easier routes. And anyone who is truly serious about being a writer should never be happy just to do as well as the worst published crap they can find.

By: Meg

Meg — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 05:04:59 +0000

I would respectfully (this is my first comment here, I’m here by way of Nicola Morgan’s “Help, I need a publisher” blog) like to submit that you missed one.

The person who is overwhelmed by the whole publishing business, and, talent or lack of it aside, can’t deal with what it takes to be pathologically persistent and thickskinned enough to do what’s necessary to get there (or what will be required once s/he arrives). Not because s/he feels entitled, but because the business end is too high a bar to jump.