{"id":8158,"date":"2022-09-13T12:26:03","date_gmt":"2022-09-13T17:26:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/?p=8158"},"modified":"2022-09-13T12:26:06","modified_gmt":"2022-09-13T17:26:06","slug":"what-you-control","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/2022\/09\/13\/what-you-control\/","title":{"rendered":"What You Control"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"800\" height=\"444\" src=\"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-content\/upLoads\/control.jpg\" alt=\"A dial\/switch on a control panel. Beneath the switch is a small weathered placard reading COMP. 2 CONTROL.\" class=\"wp-image-8168\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-content\/upLoads\/control.jpg 800w, http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-content\/upLoads\/control-300x167.jpg 300w, http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-content\/upLoads\/control-768x426.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>I&#8217;ve mentioned some of my writing close calls over the years: a large studio interested in a screenplay they said they would have fought for, but&#8230;they were being acquired by another studio wanting a new direction; and I&#8217;ve had partial and full manuscript requests from agents over the years. (In some cases, from people representing some of the biggest writers out there.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I&#8217;d be lying if I said the disappointment following some of those rejections didn&#8217;t leave me feeling a bit deflated, but&#8230;ever the optimist, I always recognized the consideration extended to me from people who make a living acquiring stories meant I was on to something.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Plans Change<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>I subscribe to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/JackConteExtras\">Jack Conte&#8217;s YouTube channel<\/a>. Among the many things Conte does, he is the CEO of Patreon *. Recently, he shared a very short video about how people feel like failures when plans don&#8217;t work out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Plans Change!\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/pT8lqBTYeFI?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>While this video focuses on planning being little more than the zigs and zags of figuring out a problem, it got me thinking about what many deem as &#8220;failure.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">&#8220;I Didn&#8217;t Sell Those Things&#8230;&#8221;<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>I know writers who feel like &#8212; if they didn&#8217;t make money with their writing &#8212; they have failed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For all my close calls, I&#8217;ve never sold that big thing. I&#8217;ve been disappointed when interest in stories I gave my all were passed by, but&#8230;I&#8217;ve <em>never <\/em>felt like a failure when it comes to writing. (Being seriously considered by those expressing interest in my work means there&#8217;s something there.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I can influence my luck and opportunities, but&#8230;I cannot guarantee them. No matter how many motivational speakers say all it takes is hard work and a positive attitude, there are things outside of one&#8217;s control.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What I Control?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>I control what I produce.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That&#8217;s it!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I can work to influence my odds of &#8220;success&#8221; with the things I write, but nothing is guaranteed&#8230;except the work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I can write the greatest thing ever written and&#8230;it&#8217;s entirely possible nothing more will happen with it other than it existing because I put in the effort.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Beyond finishing stories, the rest is up to others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Beyond Our Control<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Obviously, I don&#8217;t believe &#8220;success&#8221; is some haphazard thing. Sure, there <em>are <\/em>those instances of someone submitting something their first time out and finding huge success from the start&#8230;or people bumping into the right person at the right time who hears what they&#8217;re up to and helping them. But if I had to bet on a mediocre writer who&#8217;s good with self promotion vs. a great writer who isn&#8217;t, I&#8217;d put my money on the Mediocre Wordsmith.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But while we might be able to influence our odds of people considering our writing, much of &#8220;success&#8221; is still found in the hands of others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">So Why Even Bother?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>It might seem unfair to some that their plans for success, no matter how well plotted, may never happen. I&#8217;ve met people who looked at the odds of making a comfortable living writing fiction and said, &#8220;Why even bother, then?&#8221; and move onto something more likely to work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I can only speak for myself why I bother, but there&#8217;s something freeing in doing a thing simply because you love it. Sure, I&#8217;m fortunate that Not About Lumberjacks has a small audience, but even if I were writing only for myself, it&#8217;s worth it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">My Plans&#8230;<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Every bigger thing I write (i.e. novels) will always be written with the goal of publication. But goals and expectations are different things.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Were I to <em>expect <\/em>publication, I&#8217;d possibly become that person who quits writing and moves on to something more lucrative. But I&#8217;ve met too many people in my life &#8212; people who seemed to have had it all &#8212; who looked back and wished they&#8217;d done that thing they loved, &#8220;successful&#8221; or not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Success is what you make of it; for me, it&#8217;s doing the one thing in my control: finishing the stories I want to write.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">* * *<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>* Speaking of Patreon, did you know I have <a href=\"https:\/\/www.patreon.com\/cgronlund\">a Patreon focused on my writing<\/a>?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I&#8217;ve mentioned some of my writing close calls over the years: a large studio interested in a screenplay they said they would have fought for, but&#8230;they were being acquired by another studio wanting a new direction; and I&#8217;ve had partial and full manuscript requests from agents over the years. (In some cases, from people representing [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8158"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8158"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8158\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8178,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8158\/revisions\/8178"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8158"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8158"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8158"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}