I was feeling a bit discouraged this week. I had been reading several posted works on Scribophile (I swear I'll stop plugging it one of these weeks) and was marveling at the skill and depth I had seen in the stories. When I had written enough critiques to earn the points to post my own work, I posted the first chapter of my Nombie novel (I talked about some of my feedback I received last week). I received some great feedback, some from others that I had critiqued, but I had to keep reading to get more points to continue posting chapters. The more posts I read, the more I felt like the quality of my writing was dismally juvenile.
Granted, I wrote the majority of my Nombie novel in November of 2012, nearly a year and a half ago. I tried to make myself feel better by thinking about how far my skill had progressed in that time. But there was a small voice in the back of my head that asked, "Have you really gotten better? How do you know?"
So, I wasn't feeling very good about my craft. I told my husband about how I was feeling and comparing my writing to that of others. He said, "Everyone learns Stairway to Heaven."
(Some background on my husband; Not only is he a kind-hearted hilarious cheerleader that will take a chainsaw to my work when I ask him to, he is also an incredible musician, in particular an incredible guitarist. He has been playing nearly since he could read, and it absolutely shows. Anyway, back to the story.)
He told me that no guitarist that has worked their chops will ever look down on a beginning guitarist for learning Stairway to Heaven. It is something every beginning guitarist does, and none of them do it well. But they will not be looked down on for it. It is almost a rite of passage. It is a beginning stage. And once the beginner has mastered it, they will move on to more complex music. No one starts out at the level of John Petrucci. Everyone has to get through the Stairway to Heaven phase first.
A bit of a reality check, really, and deservedly so. The Nombie story is only my second attempt at a novel ever. It is wildly unrealistic to think that I will be writing at the level of someone who has been at it for ten years. It is also an encouragement. Once I can keep my strings tuned, I can focus on my fingering, then timing, then dynamics, and when I've gotten that down I can move on to more complex rhythms. This is not permanent, as long as I keep practicing :)
Granted, I wrote the majority of my Nombie novel in November of 2012, nearly a year and a half ago. I tried to make myself feel better by thinking about how far my skill had progressed in that time. But there was a small voice in the back of my head that asked, "Have you really gotten better? How do you know?"
So, I wasn't feeling very good about my craft. I told my husband about how I was feeling and comparing my writing to that of others. He said, "Everyone learns Stairway to Heaven."
(Some background on my husband; Not only is he a kind-hearted hilarious cheerleader that will take a chainsaw to my work when I ask him to, he is also an incredible musician, in particular an incredible guitarist. He has been playing nearly since he could read, and it absolutely shows. Anyway, back to the story.)
He told me that no guitarist that has worked their chops will ever look down on a beginning guitarist for learning Stairway to Heaven. It is something every beginning guitarist does, and none of them do it well. But they will not be looked down on for it. It is almost a rite of passage. It is a beginning stage. And once the beginner has mastered it, they will move on to more complex music. No one starts out at the level of John Petrucci. Everyone has to get through the Stairway to Heaven phase first.
A bit of a reality check, really, and deservedly so. The Nombie story is only my second attempt at a novel ever. It is wildly unrealistic to think that I will be writing at the level of someone who has been at it for ten years. It is also an encouragement. Once I can keep my strings tuned, I can focus on my fingering, then timing, then dynamics, and when I've gotten that down I can move on to more complex rhythms. This is not permanent, as long as I keep practicing :)
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| Hellen86 |
<3
ReplyDeleteKeep at it. I just sold and I know I'm not as good as I'm gonna be. "I'm a bestselling author." Tell yourself that every day. Now I need to go practice my guitar. I haven't started learning Stairway to Heaven yet. I'm way behind. :)
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