Most writers feel a sense of professional jealousy at some point in their lives. How do you combat these feelings?
A recent “Dear Sugar” column at The Rumpus reminds us that book deal envy is both destructive and misguided. All aspiring writers should keep this column posted near their writing desk–fight professional jealousy before it destroys you.
Here’s an excerpt: “[M]y gut sense of your letter is that you’ve conflated the book with the book deal. They are two separate things. The one you are in charge of is the book. The one that happens based on forces that are mostly outside of your control is the book deal. You could write the world’s most devastatingly gorgeous book of poems and nobody would give you $200,000 to publish it. You could write the world’s most devastatingly gorgeous novel and maybe get that. Or not. My point is, the first thing you need to do is get over yourself, Awful Jealous Person.”