Last week I talked about the importance of celebrating others’ successes. It’s part of building a supportive community of writers.
That means you have to let people know when you have a success, too.
After years of trying to sell my screenplay to a major company, imagining it produced with major stars and being released in theaters, making me rich and famous, my first sale went directly to television, with some known actors. It did not make me rich or famous. I looked at it as another step closer to paying all the bills through my writing.
“Your movie went to television. You may never meet another writer who can say that.”
Reality check from another screenwriter, who’s produced his own films. It wasn’t as flashy as I’d always imagined, but it was still a success – a pretty big one.
The same holds true when you’ve been targeting the major markets with your stories or essays for years and a university press publishes one of your stories and you’re paid in copies. It’s still recognition, validation of your skill as a writer. It’s success.
Celebrate with your fellow writers.
