The career novelist

Strategy session II: midcareer damage control

is wrong with that impulse, but it is sensible to consider one's tim-
ing and one's audience. Think of the G.A.N. as a detour, or perhaps
a vacation. Do you have time for it? Will your readers travel with
you, or wait for your return?
If the answer is yes, bon voyage. If it is no, better stick close to
home.

ENVY
When a writing career hits a crisis point, there is one event I can
always count on: the author involved will fall prey to envy.
Misfortune breeds resentment, especially resentment of others'
apparent success. The grass is never greener on the other side of the
fence than when one's own lawn is dry and brown. Envy can spur
action, I will admit, but it also clouds thinking and provokes emo-
tional responses to situations that require cool heads, logical plan-
ning, and sangfroid.
Here are some common remarks that I hear from envious
authors:

• My writing is better than 90 percent of the crap that's out there.


• I need an aggressive agent/editor/publisher.


• Publishers decide which books will be best-sellers.


• It's all about ego. Big egos get big advances.


• Why can't I have...? (Choose one:)
  a) a bigger advance
  b) advertising
  c) hardcover publication
  d) mainstream status
  e) an auction


• This business really sucks.

I can hardly blame authors for these sentiments, but these ways

of looking at their problems are not particularly helpful. The follow-

ing are some of my responses to those envy-driven remarks:

• It may be true that your prose is better than 90 percent of the
  competition's, but can the same honestly be said of your story-
  telling? Maybe it is time to take a look at your plotting.