Dear Editor, I am ready to begin my second book after spending over two years on my first novel. New characters that have been swimming around in my head for months, scenes I know exactly how to write, a climax that is spectacular – they are all there, and yet I’m hesitant, daunted by the work that is ahead of me. Is this normal? Does this desire to protect my sanity from my art mean I don’t have the chops to be a writer?—No Van Gogh
You poor people. Who’s been teaching you there are “signs” you “don’t have the chops to be a writer”?
There are signs you don’t have the chops to be a mail carrier in early twentieth-century Africa. That would be a severe disability at judging distance and a tendency to clip trees when you fly too low over them.
There are signs you don’t have the chops to be a spelunker. That would be claustrophobia, terror of the dark, and nightmares about being buried in an earthquake under tons of crushing earth and rock.
There are signs you don’t have the chops to be an alligator wrestler. That would be the existence of alligators.
You know what you have to do to be a writer? Sit at your desk putting words on paper, reading great literature, and studying the craft with all your heart and soul for about twenty years. This can be boring as hell for someone who’s not really interested in that stuff. But chops? You don’t need no stinkin chops. All you need is obsessive-compulsion and a sincere fascination with such a thing.
Now, I’ll tell you two years is not really long enough to learn the craft. So if the novel you’ve been working on for two years is the first writing you’ve done, be aware you’re probably not finished with it.
It’s possible your reluctance stems from a subconscious knowledge of this, and you’re afraid to move on because you know the first project isn’t completed. It’s possible all you need is permission to start on a new project while that one’s going cold in a drawer.
No Van Gogh, buddy?—You’ve got my permission.
“The freshest and
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—Helen Gallagher,
Seattle P-I
The Art & Craft of Story