{"id":33839,"date":"2019-01-16T08:01:38","date_gmt":"2019-01-16T13:01:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/terribleminds.com\/ramble\/?p=33839"},"modified":"2022-01-08T12:27:56","modified_gmt":"2022-01-08T17:27:56","slug":"david-mack-almost-all-of-us-are-faking-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/terribleminds.com\/ramble\/2019\/01\/16\/david-mack-almost-all-of-us-are-faking-it\/","title":{"rendered":"David Mack: (Almost) All Of Us Are Faking It"},"content":{"rendered":"

And now, ladies and gents, author David Mack dropping some authorial life truths:<\/em><\/p>\n

* * *<\/p>\n

I have a new book out this week, but that\u2019s not what I\u2019ve come to Chuck\u2019s space to tell you about. I want to talk about a public charade in which most published authors are asked to participate: the practice of \u201cfake it \u2019til you make it\u201d (a close cousin of \u201cimpostor syndrome\u201d).<\/p>\n

Self-promotion is a big part of being an author in today\u2019s media-soaked landscape. Our agents, editors, and publishers encourage us to develop \u201cpersonal brands,\u201d to be \u201cauthentic,\u201d to make ourselves accessible to our public in order to increase public awareness of us and our works.<\/p>\n

There are lots of dos and don\u2019ts when choosing what to say and, just as important, what not to say in public. Don\u2019t trash-talk other creators. Never air work-related complaints. Don\u2019t demean yourself or your work. Defeatism and pessimism about one\u2019s self or one\u2019s work turn people away from you. Self-pity and envy don\u2019t rack up retweets. This is all good life advice, in fact.<\/p>\n

Creators on social media can feel as if they are expected to present a positive, successful image at all times\u2014and to churn out a steady mix of self-revelation, irreverent commentary, earnest activism, and a smidge of self-promotion. It creates the impression that all of us are doing great, that things couldn\u2019t be better, that we\u2019re all on upward trajectories of success and enrichment.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, for quite a few of us at any given moment, that\u2019s not entirely true.<\/p>\n

Creative professions, especially those connected with publishing, are difficult and often low-paying. For persons without other full-time occupations, trying to survive in a gig economy can be brutal, exhausting, and demoralizing. Sometimes we get depressed. The entities some of us rely upon to help advance our careers let us down. Things sometimes don\u2019t turn out as well as we had hoped. Promises made to us get broken; opportunities get rescinded.<\/p>\n

Most of us can\u2019t talk openly about such setbacks. In some cases it would do us more harm than good to air our disappointments, so we shield our fans and friends from our bad news.<\/p>\n

One consequence of this conspiracy of optimism is that newcomers to the field sometimes harbor unrealistic expectations. No one wants to tell them how hard it is to break out of the submissions pile, or that being published, far from being a guarantee of success, is often little more than a roll of the dice.<\/p>\n

We always hear about the starred reviews, the bestsellers, the award-winners. But no one speaks of the books that got panned. That didn\u2019t find the audiences their publishers and authors hoped for. That weren\u2019t optioned by Hollywood in high-six-figure deals. That got quietly remaindered. No one wants to hear about the series that were abandoned by their publishers, left to die like wounded animals in the desert.<\/p>\n

Ours is a hard art. An unforgiving business. A merciless meat-grinder that devours new and original ideas without apology or reward. Nobody really knows what works or why. And the truth is, only a small percentage of our peers are really doing as well as they seem to be.<\/p>\n

Does that discourage you? Make you want to quit and find some other line of work? If it does, then maybe this was never the profession for you. Conversely, if you can gaze into this abyss of disappointment and find the will to keep going, you might just be one of those who will survive its indignities and emerge on the other side, clothed in glory.<\/p>\n

Because the flip side of \u201cfake it \u2019til you make it\u201d is that this business is designed to let you do exactly that. Did your first book tank? Is your name forever mud in the spreadsheets of Nielsen Bookscan? That\u2019s okay. Gin up a pseudonym and try again.<\/p>\n

Were you doing well for a while until an unexpected failure sank the career you\u2019d been building for years? Same advice. Reinvent yourself and keep going. As long as you\u2019re willing to keep working, the system is set up to let you. No one ever knows what\u2019s going to sell. Some hit books are manufactured, but some come out of left field. If that lucky strike happens to you, no one will care if you\u2019re writing under your real name or your seventh nom de plume. A win is a win.<\/p>\n

So, if the key is perseverance, how does one avoid succumbing to despair while waiting and hoping for success?<\/p>\n

That is a challenge that I think everyone has to sort out for themselves. In my case, I\u2019ve learned to bear the slings and arrows of publishing misfortune by embracing the Four Noble Truths. They are, to paraphrase the Buddha (and also Bill and Ted):<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. To exist is to suffer.<\/li>\n
  2. The origin of suffering is desire.<\/li>\n
  3. The way to end suffering is to let go of desire and seek harmony.<\/li>\n
  4. The path to harmony is be excellent to one another.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    You might ask, \u201cWhat has any of that to do with trying to build a writing career?\u201d Fair enough. I apply the Four Noble Truths this way:<\/p>\n

    First, the work is going to be hard, and setbacks are inevitable. You don\u2019t have to like the hardship, but you need to accept it.<\/p>\n

    Second, let go of your expectations and be thankful for whatever success or enjoyment you find along your journey. Not all of us who get into this business will become number-one bestsellers or highly paid rock-star authors. Some of us have to find purpose in telling tales in which we find truth and meaning. Maybe we\u2019ll be lauded after we\u2019re dead. Maybe not. C\u2019est la vie.<\/p>\n

    Last but not least, be kind to yourself and others. We are all fighting a difficult battle\u2014some of us with our muses, others with health, some with finances, or with any combination of those and other tribulations. Lift one another up. Celebrate one another\u2019s successes, and have compassion for those who are not so blessed by fortune as you have been. Let go of your ego.<\/p>\n

    Buddhism teaches us that all things and beings are interconnected\u2014which is just another way of saying, \u201cWe\u2019re all in this together. Let\u2019s be good to one another and enjoy the ride.\u201d And if we\u2019re lucky, a day will come when we all will make it, and none shall need to fake it. Namaste.<\/p>\n

    * * *<\/p>\n

    David Mack\u00a0<\/strong>is the award-winning and New York Times<\/em>\u00a0bestselling author of more than thirty novels of science fiction, fantasy, and adventure. Mack\u2019s writing credits span several media, including television (for episodes of\u00a0Star Trek: Deep Space Nine<\/em>), short fiction, and comic books. His new novel The Iron Codex<\/a><\/em><\/strong> is available now from Tor Books.<\/p>\n

    The Iron Codex:<\/strong> Amazon<\/a> | Barnes & Noble<\/a> | Indiebound<\/a> | Powell\u2019s<\/a><\/p>\n

    Read a prequel story<\/a>. Visit the author\u2019s site<\/a>. Follow him on Facebook<\/a> and Twitter<\/a>.<\/p>\n

    <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    And now, ladies and gents, author David Mack dropping some authorial life truths: * * * I have a new book out this week, but that\u2019s not what I\u2019ve come to Chuck\u2019s space to tell you about. I want to talk about a public charade in which most published authors are asked to participate: the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-33839","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"hentry","6":"category-theramble","8":"no-featured-image"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pv7MR-8NN","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/terribleminds.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33839","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/terribleminds.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/terribleminds.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/terribleminds.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/terribleminds.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33839"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/terribleminds.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33839\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33844,"href":"https:\/\/terribleminds.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33839\/revisions\/33844"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/terribleminds.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33839"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/terribleminds.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33839"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/terribleminds.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33839"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}