Strategy session III: managing success
can find that these "editors" do not have time to work properly on
their authors' manuscripts. Junior editors may be assigned the task,
or maybe no one will do it at all. That happened to Kurt Vonnegut.
It could happen to you.
If it does, how can you cope? Demanding quality editing is one
way; going to book doctors is another. They can be expensive, but
they can also prove invaluable to authors who need major help in
whipping their novels into shape. In fact, it is amazing to me how
big the book doctoring business has become.
THE DARK SIDE
A final—and gentle—word is owed to authors who are plagued by
blocks, the bottle, pills, depression, or thoughts of suicide. Who
would have thought that the writing life could involve such pain?
But it can. For some it does. If you are an author having problems
like these, know that you are not alone.
Blocks are common. I had one myself, for about a year. It was
excruciating. In my case, I rewrote the same opening to a novel over
and over. It was depressing and destructive. I got over it with the
help of an excellent psychotherapist, to whom I will always be grate-
ful. What I learned about being blocked is that it has nothing to do
with one's ability to write.
The ability to write does not diminish. What blocks it, though, is
anxiety. Anxiety may be fueled by money worries, or by a crisis of
confidence, or by external factors like a lousy marriage. Whatever
the reason, anxiety stops the flow and makes writing a misery.
There are many ways through a block, almost as many as there
are blocked writers. The main thing is to seek help. Not talking
about the problem is one of the most painful conditions of all. You
will probably find your editor sympathetic. I have several times seen
blocks overcome when an author and editor agreed to substitute
one novel for another.
Unfortunately, research suggests that there are links between
creativity and madness. According to a study done in Britain, artists,
writers, and poets are thirty-five times more likely than the average
person to seek help for serious mood disorders. And we are not talk-
ing about crummy artists, either. The British study was done on fine