What an insane week! I have barely had time to sleep as I've been juggling writing for magazines, working on my novel draft, writing papers for school and preparing for midterms. I see people my age partying until 3am and I'm lucky if I can stay awake long enough to see Letterman. :)
So, I've been doing a lot of talking/e-mailing about my recent big news. The reactions I've been getting when I exclaim "I got an agent!" have been quite varied. One of the first people I called was my grandma. She encouraged my writing from the start and is always in my corner. She cried and then laughed uncontrollably with happiness. (Hey, she's 84, what can you expect?) :)
I sent a couple of e-mails to friends I haven't talked to in a few months and I got a "shut up!" and a "no way! OMG!"
Then, I made a phone call to someone (a relative) who will not be identified and that person had no excitement, interest or desire to hear about the amazing opportunity I had been given. The first questions I got were "Are you sure the agent is legit? Are you giving this "agent" money?" There wasn't an "aw, I'm proud of you" or a "you've worked hard and I'm glad you're doing well." That never came. I was cut off and told that person was busy and would call later. We're going on 2 weeks now and the call still hasn't come. Life's funny that way, isn't it?
4 comments:
Jess that's awful!! I can't believe someone wouldn' be happy for you. If that relative can't understand the big deal and won't appreciate your awesomeness, their loss though. I definitely understand that it sucks because it's someone close to you, family, and they're supposed to be in your corner.
But chin up, lady. You're on the yellow brick road to publishing success!
The behavior was quite surprising, I must say. Thanks for the pep talk, though! :) Thick skins are necessary in this business!
You know what, I have more people in my life that don't understand writing, than do. And when meeting new people, don't even bother mentioning I'm a writer. They get this goofy look on their face and ask "writer?" Like they've never heard of one before. lol. I think some people just don't get it. And those who do and still can't be happy, are jealous. My mom comes off that way at times. She loves to write but refuses to (excuses up the wazoo), so my news of writing accomlishments are usually ignored. When she's not ignoring them she does say how proud of me she is (usually when she has something to show off to others lol).
My dad would be happier if I were a doctor or lawyer. Jessica, don't worry about that person. She's just being rude. Everytime I read your blog and see the word "wannabe" I want to scream, "you are, you are a writer. You're not a wannabe!" :)I am so proud of you.
Thank you, thank you April! No kidding about the comments about being a writer. I read a cartoon once that had a guy tell this girl "I'm a writer" and she said "But what do you do for money?" How frustrating! I've been toying with changing my blog address for some time and I am going to switch from wannabe. :)
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